Family We Find
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: Shawn wants what's best for Maya, Maya wants to help Lucas and his mom, Lucas wants to keep everyone safe, Rachel wants out, Jack wants to be there for his girls, Zay wants to make sure his friends are okay. When your father's your uncle, your uncle's your father, and your brother's best friend is your boyfriend, life's complicated. But family, we find, isn't just blood relatives.
1. Chapter 1

**It's been a long time since I've actually been nervous about posting something, but this story has become my _baby_ , and I want you guys to like it as much as I do. For one thing, I got it all the way to 40k words, which made it the longest thing I'd ever written, and it was novel-length, which I was rather proud of, especially considering that the story was only about half-written then. (So consider this you're warning that this is a big story - at least by my standards.) Did you notice how I used past-tense there, though? That's because, secondly, my flash drive crashed a few weeks ago, and took the story with it. I was able to retrieve the first fifteen out of thirty-eight chapters from off of Tumblr, but I am still in the middle of rewriting everything that came after chapter fifteen. This has truly been my labor of love (because I really do adore the plot), so I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I am.**

 **Originally this story sprang to life because of a Girl Meets World prompt list that I found. Four of the prompts on that list combined to spur on this story, and I will be posting each prompt with the chapter that the prompt is first relevant to so as not to spoil anything for my readers.**

 **This story starts after Girl Meets Fish, and is AU for anything that took place in the following episodes.**

 **Sorry about the long AN; I'll let you get to the story now!**

* * *

 **First prompt is "Jack is Maya's dad."**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

"But _why_?" Maya cried out, throwing up her hands. "Why would you even lie to me like that and tell me that you'd made Dad leave when he made the choice to leave us both?"

"We've been over this, Maya!" Katy yelled right back, long fed up with their argument. "I didn't tell you because I think that you need to love and respect him. You and he both deserve that much."

"Well, guess what?" Maya snapped. "I don't respect him, and I certainly don't love him!" Katy buried her head in her hands and groaned before Maya demanded, "What did he even do that was so great anyway to _deserve_ all of this 'love and respect'?!"

Katy jerked upright, snapping, "He took us in!"

As soon as the words had flown from her mouth, Katy blanched, which made Maya freeze and ask in a suddenly careful tone, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Katy stammered, "It means that he's your dad and he deserves for you to think of him as such."

Maya took a second to consider her strange wording and obviously nervous posture before she repeated, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything," Katy shrugged. "He's your father and that's all that there is to it."

"No," Maya rounded on her mother, a nerve-racking suspicion suddenly taking root in her mind. "No, that's not all that there is to it. _Is_ Kermit my dad?"

"Yes," Katy answered without missing a beat – too quickly, as a matter of fact, Maya realized.

"Is he my _biological_ father?"

Katy hesitated, and Maya laughed with mirthless shock at the only confirmation she needed. So _that_ was why her mom never wanted to talk to Maya about Kermit! He wasn't even Maya's real father!

"Then who is?" she suddenly thought aloud.

Katy slumped down at the table in their apartment, requesting weakly, "Maya, don't. I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, I do, and it's _my_ father, so we're going to!"

"Maya…"

Her mother was on the verge of tears now, but Maya couldn't bring herself to care. All she wanted was straight answers to this whole stupid mess. She wanted the truth! Was that too much to ask of her own _mother_? "Tell me who he is!"

Katy lowered her head back into her hands and gave in, speaking softly and brokenly. "It was just a one-night stand. We'd both had a bad day and we both got drunk. I'd lost my job, he'd broken up with his girlfriend, and we ended up going to the same bar. I left before he was even awake the next morning. So there's your story – nothing fancy… just a series of bad decisions that gave me the best part of my life."

Katy's broken smile made a valiant effort at reaching her eyes when she finally met Maya's gaze. Maya slid down into the seat across from her mother, feeling drained in her own right, before she whispered, "Do you even know his name?"

Katy shook her head self-deprecatingly. "He told me it was Jack, and I'm not sure that I'd believe him, but he gave me a last name too."

"And what last name is that?" Maya asked with a half-hearted roll of her eyes, tired of having to pry information out of her mother like pulling teeth.

Katy winced, curling into herself anew. "No. I'll tell you anything but that."

"Are you that against me finding him?" Maya scoffed.

"Yes and no. I actually recently heard of him again."

"Does he even know that I exist?" Katy shook her head. "Is he… an okay person?"

Katy offered up another tiny smile. "When I met him, he said he was in the Peace Corps."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know; I didn't look."

"So somebody else mentioned him to you, didn't they?" Maya realized. When Katy nodded, she asked, "How do you even know he's my dad, then?"

"This 'somebody else' showed me a photo of him. It was definitely the same person, but I honestly don't know what he's up to now, Maya. In fact, for all I know, he may have a family of his own by now."

"Perfect," Maya muttered dryly before asking, "So… how exactly _did_ you and Kermit meet, then? Because if you lied to me about my dad, I assume that means that you would've had to have lied to me about how you met Kermit."

"I wanted Kermit to be the only father you'd ever know," Katy informed her.

"Well, now that Kermit's gone and you're dating Shawn, that's already not happening, so tell me how you actually met Kermit."

"What we told you about that was the truth; only the year was different. I told him about you when he asked me out the first time and he was fine with you. He loved you before we even got married."

 _Until he left us_. "How old was I when you two got married?"

"You were one and a half," Katy admitted.

"And look at us now, Mom," Maya murmured, shoving back from the table and fleeing the apartment for some much-needed air. "Look at us now."

She had to go somewhere – anywhere – to get out of the apartment and away from her mother. When she made it to the sidewalk, she automatically turned to go to the Matthews' apartment – only to remember that they were out of town, having gone to visit Alan and Amy in Philadelphia. She screamed her frustration towards the sky once, twice, and then remembered that Lucas had given her and Riley his address last week so that Riley could write him while they were away. Riley had wanted to write him a real love letter, and Maya had incidentally been standing there while he'd written the address down. She recalled it now and so badly needed someone to talk to that she turned in the direction of that address and ran to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**The second prompt is "Lucas's Father starts hitting him. Maya tries to help."**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Maya had been left on her own enough during her life that she knew New York City like the back of her hand and could get practically anywhere in the city on autopilot. She used that capability now, and by the time she reached Lucas' apartment building her tears were flowing freely.

Yet she didn't even notice she was crying until she stepped into the building's lobby and realized that her vision was watery. So she stopped just inside the door and scoured angrily at her eyes. Her vision cleared – and she froze, seeing Lucas on the other side of the lobby.

And he wasn't alone.

He was standing warily across from a man in his late thirties. Neither of them looked happy with the other; in fact, Maya thought they looked like they were arguing. From what Maya had seen of him, it was unusual for Lucas to argue with an adult, though.

Frowning, she crept closer, staying out of their lines of sight.

"We weren't expecting you to be home from your trip until tomorrow, sir," she heard Lucas say. "Mom's just not home!"

"And you can't go into the apartment with me by yourself why?"

Maya didn't like the near pleading in Lucas's voice as he said, "I can, but-"

"Then come on!"

The man put his hand on the back of Lucas' neck, clearly irritated, and the two of them started forward. Maya had a feeling that Lucas could've done something to make the man end up on the ground, and the fact that he didn't worried her. As they left the lobby, she followed, still careful to stay out of sight.

Lucas and his… visitor were right outside Lucas's apartment door when Maya's concern was proved to be grounded.

"I don't have a key; you have to let us in since your idiot mother changed the lock," the man informed Lucas.

"The janitor changed the locks; not Mom," Lucas defended quickly.

But why would he say that? Maya knew very well that janitors weren't allowed to do something that drastic; that much was up to the tenant to do. If someone wanted the locks changed, they had to do it themselves – and Lucas would know that by now; he'd been in the city for two years by now.

So why would Lucas lie to someone he was obviously familiar with? And Lucas wasn't even done talking yet; he was still trying to convince the man he was with that they didn't need to be alone in the apartment together.

 _Why?_

Even as the thought flared in Maya's mind, she found her answer. The man struck out angrily, _punching Lucas in the stomach!_

The blow obviously hurt him, but Lucas barely doubled over before he grunted, "Please, sir, don't! Just-"

"Get inside that apartment _now_ ," the man barked, growling in Lucas's ear, "Or do you want to see me angry?"

"No, sir," Lucas stammered, giving up and rummaging around in his pocket until he unearthed a key and let them both into the apartment.

He ducked into the apartment first, and the man who'd hit him followed, swinging the door backwards on its hinges as he began to yell at Lucas. Maya was already seeing red, so she didn't notice his words only that she had a way in. Even though she risked giving herself away, she darted forward just before the door swung closed and caught it with her foot, keeping it cracked open so that she could listen to what was going on inside the apartment.

The man was screaming about "that godforsaken whore" who was "never home" and Lucas was trying to get a word in edgewise to explain something. Then Maya heard flesh connect with flesh again, heard Lucas's pained grunt, and forget seeing red, Maya became so angry she saw _stars._

Forget this, she wasn't going to sit here and do nothing while Lucas got hurt!

She shot into the room before she had time to really think about what she was going to do afterwards, screaming, "Who do you think you are? Get away from him!" as she jumped onto the man's back and clawed at the eyes of the bullying man in a suit. She'd brought Cory Matthews to his knees with less, and this man wasn't expecting her interference. He dropped simply from surprise and Maya leaped away, kicking him unconscious with her booted foot.

"Maya?!" Lucas yelped in surprise. "What the- What are you doing here?!"

"I was there when you gave your address to Riley, and I wanted to talk to you, so I came over – and I'm glad I did!" She gestured to the bully on the floor. "Who is that guy?"

Lucas dropped his head into his hands and groaned – people were doing that a lot around her today – before he snapped, "Why'd you have to knock him out?!"

"He was hurting you, that's why!" Maya answered loudly, feeling more and more confused. "Now, who _is_ he?"

Lucas spread his hands, a helpless expression on his face like Maya had never seen – and didn't like – as he replied, "He's my dad."

Maya's eyes blew wide as she asked hesitantly, "Does he… has he… hit you before now."

Lucas looked at some point over her head, answering shortly, "He's almost never home; it doesn't matter."

"It does too!"

When he looked back at her, Lucas's eyes were snapping with what he wanted to be anger and what she recognized as fear as he demanded, "Maya, you need to be gone before he wakes up."

"I'm not leaving you here!"

"Yes, you are. My mom will be back from work within a half-hour, and we'll be fine. I promise. Now, go. I'll see you around."

And before she could protest, he was pushing her out the door and locking it behind her. She had no choice but to leave, but that _didn't_ mean that she had to do nothing.

Shawn. She could call Shawn. With the life that he'd lived, she figured there was a fair chance that he'd have an idea of how Lucas could be helped. But when she tried to get ahold of him, his phone was turned off.

Maya stuffed her phone back in her pocket, declaring, "This is officially the worst day ever."


	3. Chapter 3

**The third prompt is "Maya and Lucas have dinner with Lucas's mom."**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Maya didn't sleep at all that night between thoughts of Lucas's home life and her mother's revelation about who her father was. She was dealing with the lack of some random guy named Jack and Lucas… she couldn't even begin to guess what Lucas was really dealing with, but none of it was good.

Her original plans for the day the Matthews returned had been to spend the day with Riley, but suddenly… Lucas had to come first. She could maybe go to the cops or someone with the story of what she'd seen, but she figured she needed real proof for her story to have any merit. She really didn't think she was going to get Lucas to agree to tell the truth himself, so her next best idea was to trail him and wait. Much as the idea killed her, she was going to have to follow him and wait until she once again saw a scene like the one from yesterday. She could record it on her phone and _then_ go to the cops.

So she got up before it was even light outside and loitered in the lobby of Lucas's apartment building until she saw him come out of the elevator and leave the building hours later. It was a pain and a half to trail someone in New York City, but Maya managed it, if only barely. Yet the only place it landed her was outside of a dinky bookstore sandwiched between a McDonalds and a pet store.

Hearing the rumble of her ignored stomach for the first time that morning, Maya went into the McDonalds and scarfed down a breakfast burrito. She alternated between playing on her phone and keeping an eye on the bookstore next door, waiting for Lucas to emerge, until lunch time. At long last, she noticed Lucas exit the bookstore, and scrambled off of her window-adjacent seat, moving quickly so that she could keep him in her sights… only to do a double take and realize that she'd lost him in the crowd she saw outside the window.

Figuring she may as well at least attempt to locate him again, she was heading back out of the restaurant when Lucas stepped into her line of sight, holding the door open for an Amazonian redhead who was old enough to be his mother.

Lucas saw Maya the same moment she saw him, and both of them paled.

"Lucas, are you alright?" the redhead asked him in concern, following his line of sight to Maya, who had suddenly lost so much presence of mind that she didn't even attempt to make herself scarce.

"Yeah," Lucas answered, and even as uncomfortable as Maya's presence was making him, he seemed much more relaxed with this woman than he had with his father. Left with no real choice, he led the woman towards Maya and introduced them. "Mama, this is my friend, Maya. Maya, this is my mama, Rachel Friar."

Right that instant, Maya even forgot to tease him about calling his mom "mama." She was suddenly too busy wondering if this woman knew what her husband became when he was alone with Lucas.

She was definitely going to find out the answer to that question before she left Lucas and Mrs. Friar alone today, though, even though she knew it would upset Lucas. She couldn't bear to leave him in that sort of a home life without even attempting to do something, and this woman – Lucas's own _mother_ – would be the best person to make the abuse stop!

"Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked Mrs. Friar seriously.

Mrs. Friar gave her an odd look – and an even odder one to Lucas when he objected, "No!" – before she answered, her eyes curious even as she smiled, "Sure. We were going to get dinner and go back to the bookstore where I work. Would you like to eat with us?"

Maya was quick to agree even if she wasn't really hungry. It was a chance to sit down with someone who could help Lucas out, and she would take that however she could get it. She made herself smile to put the other woman at ease as she joked, "I'd love to crash your lunch."

"We'd love to have you," Mrs. Friar smiled widely back at her, but Maya didn't miss her slightly pained wince.

A sudden realization hit Maya practically between the eyes. Of course this woman knew what was going on in her own home! Someone with as much anger as Mr. Friar had exhibited yesterday likely wouldn't just hit his son… he'd take his issues out on his wife as well.

Mrs. Friar turned to get in line to order and Lucas sent Maya a distressed look behind his mother's back. His meaning was clear: _Why did you have to get involved?_

 _Because I want to help!_ she thought stubbornly. But… now wasn't necessarily the time, she decided, getting a good look at Mrs. Rachel Friar's profile. The woman was wearing long sleeves and heavy makeup – _Meant to disguise bruises?_ Maya wondered – but even beneath it all, she was still obviously exhausted. Life had not been kind to her in recent years, at least not very recently, Maya decided, and she wasn't going to make it worse by interrogating her in public.

So Maya had a friendly lunch with Lucas and his mother, making conversation and discovering that she and Mrs. Friar actually got along pretty well… all the while ignoring the pit in her stomach at the thought of what this mother and son were suffering through in silence.

After lunch, Maya ended up following Lucas and his mom back to the bookstore where Mrs. Friar worked. The redhead was smiling when she went back to work, but the moment Lucas shepherded Maya out of her sight he was plainly _un_ happy with her. He sat down on a box of books in what passed as the store's storage room and allowed Maya the time to do the same before he demanded, "What are you doing?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Maya answered Lucas honestly, saying, "I wanted to help you. I thought maybe I could tail you, get some proof of what was going on, and take it to the cops."

Lucas ground his teeth, looking away from her for a minute to gather himself together a little. He was dancing the line of becoming the boy who'd pinned a twenty-year-old to a locker, and Maya knew it, knew that her interference had caused that. But she only wanted to help!

After a second, Lucas turned back to her, asking calmly, "Have you ever suspected that this was going on with me?"

"No. I had no idea until I saw it myself, otherwise I would've tried to help you earlier!"

His smile was bitter as he demanded, "Stop saying that, Maya. My dad's careful – he never hits me where people will see, and Mama's practically a makeup artist by now with how well she can cover up what he does to her." Maya winced, sorry that her earlier speculations had been correct, but Lucas wasn't done yet. "You're not going to find proof, so you might as well stop trying. The only thing you're going to do is get yourself hurt, and I refuse to see that happen on my account. _Please_ listen to me while- while I'm still being nice about it, and just stay away. I can handle this on my own; I'll be fine."

"What about your mom?" she asked instantly, knowing exactly how to get to him. "She's nice. I like her… and he hurts her more than he does you, doesn't he?" she added gently. "That's why she doesn't want you alone with him – because if she isn't there, she can't take the blows, and when she _is_ there, that's exactly what she does. Am I right?"

Lucas was looking away again, eyes dark and nostrils flaring. Suddenly he pointed at the back door a couple of feet away, ordering sharply, "Get out." Apparently he was done "being nice about it." "And if anybody at all hears about what's going on, I'll know that you're the one who told, so don't."

"Come on, Huckleberry," Maya tried to reason with him. He only stood up and took a step towards her – _was he actually going to throw her out?_ – but she made one last attempt to get through to him, even though seeing him like this was starting to freak her out. "Lucas!"

He took another step towards her, narrowing the space between them dramatically, and repeated, an agonized, almost… _dead_ sort of look in his eyes, "Get out."

Seeing how much this was really _hurting_ him to do, she stood, as much for his sake as anything, and left. But once again she was left confused and unsure of where to go. Then like a lightbulb flashing in her mind, she remembered: _"I know him!"_ Zay. She could go talk to Zay! She didn't know where he lived, though… but she did have his phone number.

She walked down the street, ignoring the cacophony of the New York City streets as she pressed her phone to her ear and he answered the call. "Hey, Pancakes!" he answered cheerfully.

Although Lucas had only used the nickname once, Zay made sure to employ it frequently just to get under her skin, but today she just didn't feel like taking the bait. "I need to talk to you. Where are you?"

"I'm at my house," he answered slowly. "Why? What's up?"

"I need to talk to you-"

"So you already said."

"Can I come over?" she asked, trying not to let an edge come into her voice.

He must've heard something in her tone anyway because he hesitantly answered "alright" and rattled off the address.

"You're kidding," Maya snorted. "That's in _my_ apartment building." She started back towards the building, adding, "I didn't know you lived on that end of town."

"Yeah… I'd like it if that was kept between you and me."

 _Well, that was happening a lot today._ "Does Lucas know?"

"Yeah."

"You and Lucas share everything, then?" Maya asked, edging towards fishing to find out what he knew. Maybe she wouldn't have to say anything if he was already aware of the situation.

"Yes and no. He's pretty private, you know, and not just once he got here because of hiding his life in Texas. He never has talked about himself much. Why?"

"No reason." If she was going to go any further into that conversation, she wanted to be face to face so that she could look in his eyes as he spoke. Zay was as loyal as they came, and she already knew that he would protect Lucas as well as anybody ever had, but she had learned that he was also a horrible liar. "I'll talk to you in a few minutes."

"Okay. See ya then."

They hung up and Maya made record time in getting back to her building. Zay met her at the door of his apartment and let her in.

"Hiya, Maya," he said cheerfully, closing the door and gesturing to the woman who emerged from what Maya assumed was the kitchen. "That's my Mom. Mom, this is Maya."

"Hi, Mrs. Babineaux," Maya gave her a tiny wave and resisted the temptation to tap her foot in impatience.

More parents to meet. _Yay_. Sometimes she forgot that other kids beside Riley had ones that stuck around the house. This could be problematic.

Then Zay said, "We're going to go on up to my room and get started on that homework for my extra math class."

Without allowing Maya a word in edgewise, he grabbed her hand and tugged her up a staircase as Mrs. Babineaux called after them, "Keep the door open!"

Zay rolled his eyes as he and Maya skidded to a stop in his room. She looked around before following him with her gaze and feeling thoroughly confused as he started blaring music from a stereo set.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Under other circumstances, Maya would've at least smiled or rolled her eyes when she recognized the music as country. Under _any_ circumstances, she would've killed before she admitted that she knew which band it was.

"Rascal Flatts," she remarked casually underneath the din. "I would've pegged you for having more modern country tastes."

"M-hm. And I assumed you didn't know country music at all," he replied approvingly.

"I have a secret stash." She stuck a finger out not an inch from his nose. "Don't tell Ranger Rick."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Zay grinned sheepishly, adding, "As long as you play along like you're my math tutor."

Maya snorted. " _That's_ what you told your mom?"

He nodded. "I said Mr. Matthews set it up because I was having problems with the section we're on right now."

"Matthews is a history teacher, you dope-head!"

"Hey," he held up his hands. "My mom's just happy that I've started paying attention in class… or at least in his class."

"Yeah, Matthews seems to have that power over students," she remarked.

"Yes, he does," Zay said shrewdly, sitting down backwards on a rolling chair to watch her as she took a seat on the very edge of his bed. "But you didn't come here to talk about music and math, did you?" He cocked his head to the side, asking perceptively, "What's wrong?"

She regarded him for a moment, realizing how little she knew him. It may well have been a bad idea to come here. She didn't really know him as anything more than Lucas's best friend, and to him she was merely Lucas's girlfriend's best friend. But they were connected _by Lucas_ , and that's why she was here.

Lucas needed help… _But he also needs to be able to trust me,_ her conscience hissed. She stared another few seconds at Zay, sizing him up. She looked at those open, still-half-innocent chocolate eyes, and for the first time she thought she knew what Lucas saw in this new class clown. _He's like Riley_ , she realized. _A… protectorate._ Lucas would _never_ forgive her if she drew Zay into this.

"Earth to Pancakes!" Zay called, leaning forward in his chair to wave a hand in front of her eyes. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

Maya's mouth twisted and she felt tears of frustration press at the backs of her eyes because _she couldn't tell him_. She couldn't tell _anyone_ , and it was _awful_!

Her tears were welling outwardly in her eyes now, and she felt heat rush to her face. She barely knew this poor guy, she'd hardly said anything to him since coming here, and now she was going to cry in front of him?! She fully expected Zay to freak out… but he didn't.

"Aw, man, no, don't cry, Pancakes!" he whipped his chair around and started to root through the piles of stuff on his desk until he unearthed a crushed box of tissues. Wheeling his way back to her, he held out the box. "Here." She took a tissue and began twisting it in her hands as Zay asked solemnly, "You wanna talk about it?"

 _Yes!_ She desperately wanted to talk to _someone_ about what she'd seen, but she couldn't! Lucas, Mrs. Friar, and Kermit vs. Jack – it was all too much to cram into two days, even for her! Her dam broke and she burst into tears, finally getting the release she'd wanted to find yesterday when she went to Lucas's apartment building.

Zay toyed with the box of tissues in his hands, alternately looking between that and her for a minute as she sobbed. Suddenly he switched from sitting on his chair to beside her on the bed, laying the tissue box in her lap as he rubbed circles into her back.

Maya hated crying, and she almost never did – certainly not breakdowns like this – unless Riley was there to catch her. But Zay wasn't Riley, and she was sitting on his bed, not in Riley's bay window, and this wasn't how this was supposed to go – not this visit, not going to Lucas's apartment, not meeting Mrs. Friar, not her father being some random stranger, none of it! Her _life_ wasn't supposed to be like this! Her life was supposed to be getting better! She had a growing relationship with her mother – or so she'd thought – Shawn dating her mom, new clothes, and, supposedly, new hope! Where had all of that gone?! _Why_ had it disappeared? Why did it feel like her world was falling apart?!

She had no idea how long she had cried, just that by the time she started to regain a sense of her surroundings, Zay had put both arms around her, her head was on his chest, and he was handing her a fourth tissue. She got the feeling that maybe she was in something of a twilight zone as she used the last tissue and sniffled, finally sitting up slowly. Zay released her for the most part, but still kept his hand on her back, still rubbing those soothing circles there.

A big part of her wanted to shrug off his touch and forget that this… _unimaginable_ encounter had ever happened, but a bigger part of her just wanted to _talk about it_. She wanted, by this point _needed_ , to get it out, but she couldn't talk to him about Lucas's father… so Jack it was.

"Feel any better?" he asked carefully, quietly, as if he was afraid the sound of his voice might trigger another waterfall.

She nodded, starting to shove off of the bed as she apologized, "I am _so_ sorry; I should go."

"Nah," Zay put his hand on her shoulder to keep her where she was. "I have a little sister, so I'm used to it. I don't mind. You came here for something, didn't you? What was it?"

She shook her head, remaining stubbornly silent, and the look in his eyes was so sincere that she couldn't help but be reminded of Eric Matthews. One moment he was an utterly dumb idiot who saw the world as one big joke book, and the next second he was capable of handling people and their issues like… well, like this right here. Whatever in the world "this right here" was supposed to be.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"It's pretty obvious you need to talk about something, Maya," Zay pointed out before adding, trying to lighten the mood, "And I'm even using your given name to get you to do it."

"Good for you, Tom Sawyer," Maya snorted.

He shook her shoulder a little even though she still refused to look at him, demanding, "Whatever it is that you need to talk about… I'll listen. I'm capable of keeping my mouth shut, just… let me listen. It's better for you to talk," he gestured vaguely to her and her growing pile of tissues. " _This_ out then to keep it in until you do or say something stupid because of it."

"Who _are_ you, and what have you done with Zay?" Maya asked him, finally meeting his eyes.

He smiled. "I'm pretty sure you, Riley, and Farkle don't know me as well as you'd like to think you do. There are parts of myself that I used a lot in Texas that I haven't had to here… and the anger-manager-slash-therapist-person is at the top of that list."

"Because Lucas is different here?" she guessed.

"I've already told you I'm leaving those conversations up to him."

"That's fine," Maya muttered, figuring she now knew at least one of the reasons why Lucas was capable of some of the things that she'd seen him do.

There was a beat and then he replied, "But you're not fine, are you, Miss Maya Penelope Hart?"

Realizing that he really wasn't going to let it go until she'd given him something to go on, Maya took a deep breath and prepared to tell him what she could. Saying aloud what she'd found out about her father would make it irrefutably real – no more shoving it away into a corner of her mind while she concentrated on something else – but maybe that was exactly what she needed…

She folded herself more comfortably onto the bed and began, "Alright, fine, I give. Yesterday, I found out that my dad isn't actually my dad and my mom had lied to me about it for forever, so…"

* * *

After her argument with Maya and the ensuing admission that her daughter had pried from her, it had taken Katy nearly twenty-four hours to get herself back to a place where she thought she could handle having a proper discussion on the subject. However, seeing that Maya had been expertly avoiding her, she decided to talk to the second person she knew needed to know about Maya's true paternity, preferably hearing it from her. So she called Shawn and asked him to meet her at Topanga's while she would be closing up the place.

Hanging up with him, she already felt sick to her stomach. After all, how was she supposed to tell her boyfriend that she'd had a child with his brother?!

* * *

Shawn had heard the nervousness in Katy's tone even over the phone, and it worried him. Sure, he'd figured out pretty early on that Katy was dramatic - part of the actress mentality, he assumed - but during their phone call, she'd sounded more… scared. So he made sure he was at Topanga's as soon as he thought she'd be closing up.

"Hey," he greeted her softly, stepping into the shop.

They were the only two there, so he even stole a quick kiss before she repeated, "Hey."

Yes, her smile was a weak, small attempt that went nowhere near her tumult-filled eyes. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels, eyeing her across the counter and uttering a small sigh before he asked, "All right, what's wrong?"

"I didn't say-"

"Katy."

She threw down her washcloth, remarking sharply, "You and Maya don't let me say a thing I actually _want_ to, you know it?"

Shawn arched an eyebrow and waited to see if there was a rant coming that he just needed to sit quietly through. Nothing came, so he prompted, "Okay… What do you want to talk about, then?"

"It's not what I _want_ to talk about,' she exclaimed. "It's what we _need_ to talk about!"

She was upset and obviously had some sort of a point that she was trying to get to, but… Shawn spread his hands, pointing out as gently as he could, "I'm not a mind-reader here, babe."

Katy's eyelids fluttered as she gathered her thoughts, and the next words out of her mouth were, "Can… can you tell me you love me?"

Shawn's eyebrows dove into a _V_ and he took her hand, guiding her around the counter and to the two orange chairs as he answered worriedly, "Of course I love you; I've told you that a dozen times! Katy… what's wrong? What's going on?"

Her eyes were shimmering with tears as she made the odd request, "Can I see your wallet? The picture with your brother in it?"

He watched her questioningly as he obligingly handed over the wallet, already flipped to a well-worn copy he'd had made of the familiar picture of himself, Chet, and Jack. She took it, staring hard at something she saw in the photo until a sob burst out of her mouth and she all but threw the wallet back at him.

"It's him," she said tearfully.

"Who's what?" Shawn asked, more confused than ever even as he struggled desperately to understand why she was so upset. "Jack Hunter," she choked out. "Is Maya's biological father."

Shawn's eyes widened as he managed to get out, "What? What about – what about Kermit?"

"He was only Maya's stepfather, but Kermit and I married when she was so young, she doesn't remember life before him, and we never had the heart to tell her. Until she dragged it out of me yesterday."

"How?" he asked shakily.

Katy shook her head helplessly, admitting, "I'm not even sure! She'd gotten into an argument at school with some kid she thought had cheated off of her math test, he denied it, of course, so she came home on a soapbox about liars and we got to talking about it. Next thing I know, she's yelling at me, wanting to know why I lied to her for so long about Kermit leaving. I worded something suspiciously, she caught it, and I ended up telling her the truth."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Okay, that's great," Shawn answered distractedly. "But how did you even _meet_ Jack?"

"In a bar," Katy snorted self-depreciatingly. "We were both drunk and we hooked up. I left the next morning, haven't seen him since, but… he got me pregnant with Maya."

Shawn was struggling valiantly to understand what he was being told, but he ended up saying the only thing he could think of, because surely there was some way that she had this wrong, "No, no, no; Jack doesn't drink."

"He did that night," Katy insisted. "After a breakup."

Shawn raked a hand through his hair, making himself work out the necessary timeline. Throwing his head back, he realized, "Rachel."

After Jack and Rachel had joined the Peace Corps together, they had gotten back together for awhile, and given Maya's birthday and the time that had passed while Katy carried her to term… the timeline worked out, he concluded. Apparently Jack had taken their separation harder than Shawn had been led to believe.

Now it was Katy's turn to look confused as she asked, "Who's Rachel?"

"My brother's ex," Shawn answered dismissively, surging to his feet.

Katy yelped his name, her hand darting out to grab his wrist. Surprised, he looked down into wide, terrified eyes and noticed that she was trembling. She looked like Maya had when they'd gone back to Philly and dug up that time capsule… like she thought he had one foot already out the door.

He sank back down into his seat, taking both her hands as he promised, "Oh, Katy, I'm not going anywhere. Sure," he allowed. "This is a lot to swallow, but," he snorted. "If there's anyone who gets the idea of making a drunken mistake, it's me." Seeing something flash behind her eyes, he shook his head before she could get started and added, "And, no, I'm not calling Maya a mistake." He squeezed her hands and made sure he had her gaze as he said firmly, "I would never do that, no matter who her father is or isn't."

"You don't hate me?" she asked faintly.

Shawn pulled her to him and tucked her head underneath his chin as he promised, "No, I don't hate you. I love you, Miss Katy Hart."

"I love you too," she managed, and then she was crying tears of relief.

Shawn held her until she was all cried out – he could handle a crying woman much easier than an upset girl – as he let this new information really sink in. When Katy had collected herself, she asked carefully, "What are you going to do?"

Seeing fear in her eyes, he pointed out a little gently, "You can't tell me something like this and expect me to do nothing, babe."

"You never can leave well enough alone, can you?" she asked with a tightlipped smile.

"You learned that about me the first time we met. I've been lied to enough that I've become an advocate for the truth."

Katy snorted, muttering, "Yet another thing you and Maya have in common."

He hesitated for a long moment, debating and envisioning the possible end results before he requested, "Let me call Jack. I'll tell him about Maya myself, and… and we'll just have to go from there."

She was still trembling and had no idea what to say, her thoughts plainly at war with each other, and she informed him absently, "I didn't tell her his last name. She has no clue he's your brother."

"Is that helpful?" he asked, trying to understand where she could be taking her thoughts.

"Well, maybe you could just… invite him over to visit you and he could 'happen' to meet Maya and we could see if they got along before we explained the situation."

"No more lies, Katy," he insisted.

"But fibs can make life so much easier!"

He noticed how she'd used "fib" instead of "lie," but he didn't call her out on it, saying pointedly, "Until you get caught."

She melted against him with a dramatic, defeated sigh and a small part of him managed to be amused. He rolled his eyes over the top of her head with a small grin and stroked her hair.

"You know I'm going to call Jack, right? And that I'm going to tell him all about Maya?" he said.

She sighed and gnawed on her lip for a second before she admitted, "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

Shawn's eyebrows drew together again as he replied, "So you asked me here and told me this _knowing_ that I'd call Jack, and that he'll probably want to meet her. Does that mean that you're okay with the idea of all of it?"

Katy sighed deeply and told him, "It means that I thought you should know, and hear it from me. As for Jack meeting Maya… I'll live with it." She sat up and caught his eye, adding the condition, "I'll live with it as long as it doesn't affect this – you and I."

Shawn shook his head and continued carding a hand through her hair as he swore, "I won't let it."

She turned her head to kiss him on the cheek before she replied lightly, "Then I'll let you go call Jack."

"Right this second?" he asked in surprise.

Though her smile was small and timid, it held a hundred emotions as she said understandingly, "I've told you about something you think needs fixed, you've thought of a way to fix it, and you won't rest until you've tried that plan out. So, yeah, you can go right now."

Trying to reassure her that he wasn't leaving _their relationship_ , he kissed her and she deepened it desperately until he nearly considered staying right where he was and seeing what this could lead to. But he had to call Jack, and Katy was right, he had to do it now.

So he made himself pull away and go to the door of the café, telling Katy, "I love you."

Her gaze was adoring, like she couldn't believe her luck, as she answered sincerely, "I love you more."

He grinned, backtracking to give her one more chaste kiss before he left, as he murmured, "I love you most."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Shawn slipped out into the cool New York City night and fished his cell phone out of his pocket. He'd kept it off since showing up at Alan and Amy's while Cory and his family were there and trailing Cory's lot back here – his way of avoiding getting an assignment until he wanted one – but he turned it back on now. There was a missed call from Maya from the day before, but she hadn't left a message. He called his brother, going out of sight of Topanga's as he waited nervously for Jack to pick up.

"Hey, bud," Jack answered the phone. "Where's my baby brother at today? Still in NYC with your boyfriend?"

Shawn snorted, answering easily, "Yeah."

"You still wrapped around the fingers of that waitress and her daughter?"

Shawn took a deep breath. "Katy and Maya, yeah. Hey, about that daughter…"

Most of the teasing edge in Jack's voice disappeared as he asked, "She's not yours, is she?"

"No," Shawn replied slowly. "…She's yours."

Jack snorted. "What?"

"Look, Jack," Shawn answered seriously. "All I know is what I was told, and what I was _told_ ," he couldn't help the edge that started to creep into his voice. "Was that when you and Rachel broke up, you got drunk enough to have a one-night stand." He paused before asking, "Did you?"

On the other end of the line, Jack went deathly quiet.

Shawn threw his head back with a growl and resisted the urge to throw his phone across the street. Jack had been the one to pound sobriety into Shawn's head, so what business did he have drinking?! But now was neither the time nor the place for that argument… Shawn made himself take a deep breath and stay calm.

Then Jack said, "Yeah, I got drunk and slept with somebody, but that woman, whoever she is, never meant anything to me."

" _That woman_ ," Shawn ground out. "Is _Katy_ , and, Jack, you're not hearing me. Whether or not 'that woman' meant anything to you, she gave you a _daughter_! You have a _child_ , and that _child_ is _Maya_!"

"This could all be a mistake, you know," Jack pointed out, sounding increasingly frazzled. "Or, or even a… a scam. If this woman isn't getting child support, and if she knows that I have money-"

"No," Shawn snapped. "You weren't there when Katy was talking about this, I was. You _are_ Maya's father, but Katy doesn't want a _thing_ from you. _I_ , however, would like you to come here and meet your daughter."

"Shawn, I'm not just going to hop on a plane and come to New York until I have definite proof. I can't; I have work."

"You work for your stepfather! Just ask Daddy for a day off!"

"Shawn…"

"What do you want me to do, Jack?!" I can take a DNA test myself, and if the results show a relation that means you're a dad, and that you'll come meet Maya. Agreed?"

Jack sighed deeply over the phone, asking, "You're really sure that she's mine, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Shawn insisted.

There was a long silence before Jack sighed one more time and muttered, "Then I'll come to NYC tomorrow and we can just get this straightened out, alright? I'll call you when I'm in the city."

"Thank you," Shawn breathed before hanging up. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

* * *

Cory was worried. He had been since yesterday, when they'd gotten home and Riley had complained that Maya wasn't even answering her texts, let alone coming over, which was completely unheard of when she knew that Shawn was there. Then Shawn had gone out to see Katy and returned subdued. When Cory had tried to get him to talk about it, he'd refuse, which was also rare and never good. Now it was Monday morning and something was… off between Maya, Lucas, Zay, and Riley, too, now, as she began to notice the tension.

He smiled experimentally at the four of them. Lucas, Maya, and Zay returned the gesture flawlessly – but Riley didn't. So she was no more convinced by her friends than Cory was. But he couldn't do anything – at least not yet – since he didn't know what the problem was. So he turned to his lesson for the day instead.

 _July 4_ _th_ _was_ written on the blackboard, and he pointed to it, demanding, "What's the first word you think of?"

Hands shot up all over the room and Cory pointed to Yogi, who offered, "America."

"Independence," Riley offered.

It was Maya who bit out, "Stubbornness."

"Stubbornness?" Cory had to raise his eyebrows at that.

Maya's eyes were sharp, angry at something, as she explained, "The Americans had to stay stubborn as they fought to free themselves from the abuse of England, right?"

"The British and the Tories who supported Britain were stubborn, too," Farkle pointed out. "They were fighting to keep things as they were."

"But they were wrong," Maya insisted. "And they lost the war. Some of them even _died_ because they were too stubborn to even _try_ to get away from the bully!" She swallowed, calming herself to tack on. "Britain, I mean."

There was a beat of silence after her mini outburst as she straightened in her seat, and Cory turned curiously to another of his students, "Mr. Friar, you and Farkle are our politically-inclined students. What are your thoughts?"

Lucas eyed the back of Maya's head as he declared, "To each his own. What's good for the goose may _not_ be good for the gander and an attitude like that can avoid a war entirely before it even starts."

Riley turned to look at him, seeming as surprised by his take on it as Cory felt, as she said, "But if something _is_ wrong, and no one fights for the change, no change will happen."

"Exactly," Maya muttered, quietly enough that only a few could hear her. "The freedom would be worth the fight."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Cory saw Lucas's eyes darken unreadably upon Maya, but before he could follow up on it, Darby made a comment that took the conversation in a different direction. He wasn't ready to call Maya and Lucas – apparently the meat of the problem lied with them – out and make them talk through their issue this instant, so he let it go, let the conversation go in the new direction, and resolved to catch the duo before they left. Yet at the end of the day, Lucas flowed out the class's back door in the middle of Riley, Zay, and Farkle, on their way to Topanga's, and Maya tried – nearly succeeded – to stay lost in the crowd charging out the front door. Cory called her to his desk at the last second.

She skidded to a stop and he saw irritation flash across her face before she sloughed over to him. "Look, Mr. Matthews, I really have to go. There's someplace I have to be, something I need to do."

"Just give me a second here. Are you okay – and you and Lucas, for that matter? You've got Riley worried. Me too."

"I'm fine," Maya replied. "But Lucas? You…" That same determined look from earlier in the day flared in her eyes. "You should ask him about his dad."

"His dad?" Cory repeated in confusion that was becoming worry.

Maya nodded, flashed him a smile, and darted out of the classroom with a little wave before he could say anything else. Cory waved back and hoped that the smile he stretched on was more convincing than the one she'd given him.

* * *

Inspiration had struck Maya during the classroom conversation about independence - and abuse - and Zay had cornered her during lunch to see how she was doing since her meltdown at his apartment. So she'd enlisted his unwitting help. She'd admitted to having an argument with Lucas – which was true – and asked Zay to cart him, Riley, and Farkle off and keep them busy at Topanga's. Now he'd kept his end of things up and Maya was striding into the bookstore where Mrs. Friar worked.

Seeing her, Mrs. Friar smiled from behind the counter. "Maya!"

"Hi, Mrs. Friar," Maya answered with a small smile. She glanced at her phone to check the time before she asked, "How long before you get off?"

"Right now, actually," the redhead replied. "You caught me just before I gathered my stuff."

Maya couldn't help the bittersweet twist of her stomach. She barely knew this woman, but already she could tell that Mrs. Friar was happier today – now that her husband had returned to work in Texas this morning – than she had been the other time they'd met. Lucas had told Maya that morning that his dad had had left again – "so you can butt out of my business now" – and it hurt to think _that_ made Mrs. Friar happy.

"Do you want to get frappes from McDonalds?" Maya offered.

"Really?" Mrs. Friar looked surprised, if pleased, by the suggestion. "Lucas texted and said that his friends were taking him to Topanga's after school. I figured you'd be with them."

"I want to talk to you about something," Maya shrugged.

"Okay," Mrs. Friar agreed slowly, curious and just a little wary. "I'll meet you there after I'm done here, if that's alright."

Maya backed to the door with a well-practiced smile on her face. "Sure, Mrs. Friar."

"You can call me Rachel, if you want to."

"Rachel," Maya repeated with a nod.

Then she went to the McDonalds next door, ordered a couple of frappes, and found a table for two, digging out her old MP3 player and finding the song she wanted. She'd just sat back down at the table with her order when Rachel came in and sat down across from her. Maya offered her an ear bud, and when Rachel put it in with a raised eyebrow, the blonde restarted the song.

"I thought of you," Maya murmured.

Martina McBride's _Independence Day_ floated out, and four lines in, Rachel paled. She yanked the ear bud out with a ragged breath and Maya put the device away entirely, dropping all pretenses.

"This is none of your business," Rachel snapped shakily, her hands trembling as she clutched her frappe.

Maya tried her best to balance gentleness and firmness in her tone as she stated, "Your husband's hurting you, he's hurting your son, and you need to get away from him."

* * *

Shawn was informed by Jack over the phone, "I just left the airport. Tell me where I can find Katy and Maya and I'll find a cab to take me there."

Shawn cringed. "At this exact moment, you'll have to choose one. Katy's here with me, Topanga, and Maya's friends at Topanga's; Maya's with some other friend at McDonald's."

"What's the McDonald's address?" Jack muttered after a moment's thought.

Shawn rattled off the street name and assured his increasingly nervous brother, "You'll be fine, Jack. Just… show her you're capable of caring and see what happens."

"Thanks," Jack replied before hanging up.

Lucas turned to Shawn and asked curiously, "Who was that?"

"My brother's in town and he wanted directions."

"Jack's here?" Topanga asked excitedly. "For how long?"

"Don't know. It was a spur of the moment trip."

"What's Maya doing all the way over at _that_ McDonalds?" Lucas asked curiously.

There was a round of shrugs before Riley answered, "She just told me that she was going to get a coffee after school, but that since she knew I didn't drink it, I should come here and she would see if she could join us later." Worry flooded the brunette's expression as she asked the group, "Is she okay?"

Shawn moved to squeeze his niece's shoulder as he replied, "She will be, kiddo." He glanced over his shoulder at Katy, who now looked just as worried as Riley if not more so, as he promised, "We all will be."

Nobody noticed that Lucas didn't look nearly as convinced as everyone else.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Jack Hunter really wasn't sure what he'd expected to find when he walked into the McDonald's Shawn had sent him to, but he realized that pretty much _anything_ would've startled him less than what he stumbled upon. Coming up the sidewalk beside the restaurant, he saw the girl whose picture Shawn had sent him, and his heart flew into his throat with nerves. Then he had to do a double take when he saw who she was sitting with.

"No way," he breathed aloud as his heart backtracked to slide all the way down to his toes. "Rachel!"

He hadn't seen her in over fourteen years, and yet here she was, with the girl who was supposedly his daughter! What the heck was going on?! There was only one way to find out…

He took a deep and let it out slowly as he forced himself to go into the restaurant and start towards the table where Maya and Rachel were sitting. He froze suddenly, a few feet away with Rachel's back to him so that he remained unnoticed as Maya ranted at Rachel about something. Because surely he'd heard that wrong…

But no, Maya was still hissing, "He hurts you, he _beats_ you – and your son – and you're willing to stay?! I don't get it!"

"You're too young to understand," Rachel murmured, and even from where he stood, Jack could tell that she was trying her best not to cry. "He's got real money stashed away somewhere, away from Lucas and me. If we leave, it ruins his reputation back in Texas, so he won't let us even if we try. The power's all in his court right now and it's too dangerous for Lucas and me to leave. He'll come after us, find us, and that would make things worse than ever!" Rachel shook her head helplessly, admitting, "We're stuck, and I admire you for wanting to help, but there's nothing that can change things."

An idea flared in his mind and Jack was moving again towards their table and speaking before he even registered it. "Maybe there is."

Rachel flew up and around in one movement, half screaming, "Ja-"

"John," Jack interrupted quickly. "My name is John."

He could deal with the Maya situation in a minute, but at the moment he had to make sure that Rachel was safe. The two of them had been through too much together – he still _cared_ for her too much – to not put her first.

Rachel paused and stared at him for a beat before she remembered Maya's presence and introduced them, "Maya, this is my friend from college. John Pennbrook. John, this is my son's classmate, Maya Hart."

Jack swallowed around the lump in his throat as he looked down at the blonde and offered her his hand to shake with a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Maya."

"You too," she muttered as she shook his hand, obviously still distracted by the conversation that she'd been having with Rachel.

That was fine by him. He dragged a chair from the next table over and sat as Rachel reclaimed her seat. Then he asked, "So, you're married now, Rach?"

She winced – they hadn't broken up on the best of terms and even now he wondered if she knew how much her leaving him for her Texan ex had hurt him – but nodded.

"Hopefully not for long," Maya muttered under her breath, so that he barely caught the words.

Jack frowned as he asked Rachel seriously, "Did I hear her right a second ago? Is your husband abusive?"

Rachel flinched again before she glanced at Maya and remained stubbornly silent.

So Maya answered for her. "Yes!"

"Listen, J-ohn," Rachel spoke up, and then paused for a long moment. "When I left you- Before we broke up, my ex-boyfriend from Texas showed up… and we hooked up. I got pregnant, and I felt like I didn't really have a choice – I couldn't go back to you after what I'd done to us – so I married my son's father."

Even after all these years, that still felt like a punch in the gut to Jack, but now, at least, he could add it to the list of things that he could think through later. Right now he just wanted to make sure that Rachel wasn't going to be hurt anymore!

"Good, that's great, good for you, Rachel," he said quickly, brushing off the back-story for now to get to the real point. "If he is hurting you, you – we – _do_ have connections to get you out."

"Who?" Rachel snorted, her eyes filled with hopelessness.

"Are you registered as a resident of the state of New York?"

"Yes."

The corner of Jack's mouth tilted upwards. "Then the state senator, for one. And Topanga is a _brilliant_ lawyer! If you tell her you want to separate from your husband and why she'll have divorce papers and a restraining order for you in record time. You have to know that!"

"Lucas and I wouldn't have anywhere to _go_! That's why I have that crummy job at the bookstore – behind my husband's back, so that I can have my own money, and find my own way out!"

"But you already have a way out, a support network that very literally stretches into Canada and wherever the heck Angela's at this week! If you need a place to stay, you can come home with me, if you want to."

"Money's no object either," Maya added, as if she'd suddenly thought of something. "He's right. I've been trying to keep this away from anyone else, but if you're willing to tell the right people what's going on, I have a friend who's _filthy_ rich, and I'm sure he could help you get whatever you need."

Jack sat back in his chair and gestured at Maya. "See! We can get you and your son away, Rachel! Just let us help you!"

Rachel looked between him and Maya with tears gathering in her eyes while they waited with baited breath for her verdict. "Alright." She nodded, a wide smile slowly taking over her expression. "Alright, I'll get a divorce."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Maya beamed and moved around Jack's chair to hug Rachel happily. But this wasn't over yet, it was just beginning.

"How much time do we have until your husband's back in town?" Jack asked.

"He'll be home again this weekend," Rachel answered, sobering at the thought.

Jack shoved his chair back from the table. "Then let's go."

"Go where?" Rachel asked in confusion.

"To Topanga's café. Do you know the place?"

"I've never been there," Rachel admitted. "Cory and Topanga know me too well; I was afraid that they would catch on to…"

"Well, there's no more reason to be afraid," Jack promised, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Shawn's already told me that Topanga's at the café. Do you know how to get there?"

Rachel shook her head, but Maya volunteered, "I do."

Maya led them onto the subway, and while they were riding, Jack texted Eric: _Rachel's in NYC, in trouble. Getting a divorce. May need place to stay or somebody to throw a little legal/political weight around. You willing?_

Then he texted Shawn: _Met Maya. She doesn't know who I am yet. My name's John Pennbrook so that she knows. Kill me later. We're coming to Topanga's with bigger problems. Tell T Rachel needs divorce papers and a restraining order against her husband._

Eric got back with him before he'd even sent Shawn's text: _I'm on my way to Topanga's café with Tommy._

From Shawn he got: _Told T. R's son is here. What are we supposed to tell him? What's going on?_

Jack bit his lip, answering only: _Hold tight. I'll explain in person. Tell son she's safe with me and Maya._

Then Jack slipped his phone back into his pocket, and from her seat between him and Maya on the subway, Rachel curled into him. Just as instinctively, Jack pulled her close. It had been years since they had seen each other – he hadn't even heard about her marriage – but that didn't mean that he loved her any less than he had before she'd walked away from him – apparently while already carrying someone else's child. But she had been punished more than enough for that, and she just looked so… small right now. So he held her, pressing a kiss to her scalp when he realized how badly she was trembling.

"It's alright, Rachel," he swore. "I won't let anyone hurt you or your son. I still consider you a part of my family, and," Jack looked beyond Rachel to Maya almost without meaning to. "And family sticks together and takes care of each other."

* * *

Maya caught "John's" eye the moment he looked at her, and she wanted to swear. _I knew it!_ He was looking at her with such… sincerity in his eyes all of a sudden that it would've freaked her out… if he hadn't reminded her of someone.

She did swear then, ignoring "John's" alarmed look, because – Shawn! He reminded her of Shawn! They could've been family, maybe. And then she remembered. Shawn had said before that he had an older brother… named Jack. And her mother had refused to give her the surname of the man whose blood she shared.

Could it be that…? _Oh, brilliant!_ She wanted to scream, because this was exactly the last thing that she needed right now. She wanted to get Rachel and Lucas safe, and to be able to concentrate on them and only them… so that she didn't have to think about who her father wasn't or might be.

She had known, at least subconsciously, what she was doing, but now, sitting here and looking at Rachel and "John" – the convergence of the two issues – it really hit her. Rachel and Lucas were being abused and Kermit was not her father. Those things were the problems being dealt with right now, and she was taking them to Topanga's where she knew at least one of those issues was going to be dealt with.

As for Jack Hunter or John Pennbrook or whoever he was being her father… she was probably over thinking things – seeing things that weren't even there. But somehow she didn't think so…

Regardless, at the moment, Rachel and Lucas had to come first. She could look into her suspicions about "John Pennbrook" after she knew her friends were safe.

* * *

Mr. Hunter looked up from his phone and the text he'd just gotten before he waved Mrs. Matthews over to him with a frown. Mrs. Matthews, who had been giggling over something or another with Ms. Hart, came over, and Mr. Hunter leaned across the counter to murmur something to her. Lucas had been on edge since Mr. Hunter had taken that call from his brother that revealed Maya to be, according to him, in the McDonalds next to where his mother worked. That didn't sound like anything good would come of it, so Lucas had kept one ear nervously inclined towards the adults even as he talked to with his own friends.

If he hadn't already been listening for Mr. Hunter, he would've missed it when the man told Mrs. Matthews and Ms. Hart, "Something's gone majorly off course for Jack and Maya. Did you know that Rachel is in New York City?"

Lucas just barely caught himself before his expression gave something of his alarm away as Mrs. Matthews answered, "Rachel McGuire? Cory mentioned that he had her kid as his student over a year ago, but we haven't gotten into contact with one another. Why? Is she okay?"

"I don't think so," he muttered. "Jack says that she's coming here with him and Maya – and that she wants divorce papers and a restraining order against her husband."

Lucas took a deep breath, trying to keep his breathing steady, but it wasn't working very well, and Zay noticed, glancing worriedly at him out of the corner of his eye. But Lucas was closer than him, Riley, or Farkle to the counter where the adults were talking; there was a fair chance he couldn't hear what Mr. Hunter and Mrs. Matthews were saying.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Lucas could almost feel the very moment Mrs. Matthews remembered that he was there, though, before she told Mr. Hunter, "I'll get on that, but you need to ask what we're supposed to tell Rachel's son. He's Riley's boyfriend."

Mr. Hunter yelped, "Sitting right over-"

"Yes!" Mrs. Matthews cut him off.

Mr. Hunter sent off a text then, and Lucas reminded himself to breathe until the man received a reply and then called out, "Hey, Lucas, come here."

He jumped up from his seat a little too quickly, and Zay knew him too well not to notice that something was bothering him, so his best friend came too. "What's up?" Lucas asked, managing by some miracle of god to keep his expression neutral.

"I'm going to cut the crap and assume that you've been listening in to everything that's been happening, yeah?" Mr. Hunter asked.

Lucas hesitated for only a moment before he nodded, feeling his heart rate beginning to accelerate in his chest. Mr. Hunter nodded and flipped the phone so that Lucas could see the last two texts between the Hunter brothers.

 _Told T. R's son is here. What are we supposed to tell him? What's going on?_

 _Hold tight. I'll explain in person. Tell son she's safe with me and Maya._

Lucas allowed himself to take a breath and exhale his relief before he asked, "She's divorcing my dad? And the restraining order means that he can't get to her?"

"Right."

Topanga put her hand over the voice piece in her phone as she told him, "I'm going to make sure that you have one too."

He should've managed a smile or _something_ at that, but to be honest, he hadn't thought about himself at all. He didn't care about himself so long as his mom was safe… only he knew from experience that he had to try his best to stay safe himself so that she wouldn't try to come rescue him. That was when she got hurt more often – more often than his father would've otherwise hurt her, anyway.

But now he was sitting here being told that they were going to be getting away from that – from Lucas's father – _today._ His heart began to hammer in his chest harder than before, and he honestly didn't know if it was in a good way or not.

Zay saw – of course he did, he always did – and led Lucas to the other end of the counter, where Tommy stayed camped out whenever he came to Topanga's. He pushed Lucas down into a chair, asked Ms. Hart to bring him a glass of ice water, and then walked over to Farkle, whispering something in his ear before he shot back to Lucas.

"Farkle's got Riley, man; he'll keep her distracted. She's fine, so if you need to talk about something, you're free to."

Lucas took a deep breath as he purposely turned his barstool so that his back was to Riley and Farkle, but he couldn't manage to form the words to explain just yet. Zay knew or had at least guessed a little bit of Lucas's home life before, and he started to do so again.

"Your mom's leaving your dad because he's abusing the two of you, right? Maya and apparently Shawn's brother are bringing her here as we speak?"

Lucas could've spoken now, but he didn't yet, only nodded confirmation.

"Then that's all _good_ ," Zay pointed out. "Even I know these people enough to know that they'll move heaven and earth to help a friend. Listen to me, Lucas. Your mom's safe, you're safe, everything is going to be fine. As of right now, you're officially away from your dad and safe."

Lucas wanted to believe that – like nothing else in the world, he wanted to believe that he was finally free to let his guard down and just _live life_ – but after suffering under his father for so long, he wasn't sure that he could believe it yet.

* * *

The walk from the bus stop to the café probably would've been fraught with tension if Maya hadn't hustled Jack and Rachel there so quickly. It seemed that since Rachel had decided to file for divorce, Maya didn't want to give her time to change her mind. Still, Jack was grateful when Maya held open the café door and he was able to usher to two females inside.

You wouldn't have noticed the quiet chaos if you weren't looking for it, but he was looking. Topanga was behind the counter whisper-yelling down her cell phone, Riley was making oblivious conversation with a redheaded boy on one side of place while an African-American kid was trying to calm a jittering blonde teen on the opposite side of the room, and Shawn was sitting at the counter explaining what he knew to a doe-eyed blonde.

Seeing her face hit Jack almost between the eyes, and he bit back the urge to swear. She was _that_ woman, the one he'd slept with all those years ago. With that… well, there was no longer any doubt in his mind.

He, Jack Hunter, was Maya Hart's biological father.

* * *

The moment she stepped into Topanga's, Maya made a beeline for Zay and Lucas. When the boys noticed her there, she was greeted with the last thing she expected – Lucas pulled her into an actual _hug_.

"I know you did this," he informed her. "I don't know how, but thank you."

"You're more than welcome, Lucas…" she replied, letting herself hug him, because, honestly, he just seemed to need a hug right now. "But…" she pulled away and looked him in the eye. "I didn't convince her, really." She turned around far enough to point at Jack "John Pennbrook" Hunter where he now stood beside Shawn with an arm still around Rachel. "He did. He's an old friend of your mom's from college, I think." She caught Zay's eye, trying to convey her suspicions as she added, "I think he said his name was Jack – Jack _Hunter_."

"Yeah," Lucas nodded. "Shawn's brother. He and Shawn have been texting back and forth."

Maya only half-registered Zay's hand fluttering to rub soothing circles between her shoulder blades as he murmured in her ear, " _The_ Jack? Your dad?"

She shrugged noncommittally, and if she leaned into his touch a little, then so what? She liked the way he rubbed those stupid circles on her back.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"I don't know," Maya muttered to Zay, forcibly smoothing the frown from her brow as she said to Lucas, "But enough about me. You doing okay, Ranger Rick?"

Lucas nodded. "I think so. Yeah, actually, I am, but, uh, listen, Maya. About what happened in the bookstore Saturday – I am _so_ sorry."

"Don't be," she shook her head with a gentle smile. "You were protecting your family and doing what you thought was best for them. We just have different ideas of what that is."

"Well, for what it's worth, you were right." He smiled."I like your idea better than mine, anyway."

She smiled. "Then I'm glad I could help you see it happen for real."

He looked thoughtfully over Maya's shoulder at the cluster of adults at the counter. "There's nothing that I can really do to help them right now while they're getting all this straightened out, so… can I help you instead?"

Maya chuckled dryly, thinking of something she'd heard Shawn say in his recent talk with Angela. "I wish somebody would."

"How do you know Jack?"

Her smile fell from her face as she replied stiffly, "I don't know him. That's part of the problem."

Her eyes widened suddenly as a thought came to mind and she whipped around angrily to face Zay. He grasped both of her wrists before he could lay into him, saying firmly, "I didn't tell anyone anything. You know I keep secrets well." He cocked his head to the side, adding suggestively, "But those secrets can eat you alive if you keep them inside, and sometimes they'll even come back to bite you." He looked between Lucas and Maya before glancing over his shoulder to where Riley was still distracted with Farkle as he finished, "Don't you think?"

Maya sighed and resisted the urge to put her head in her hands as she turned to Lucas and said, "We have to tell Riley, don't we?"

"Yeah," Lucas murmured, looking equally worried with the idea before he went to lead the trio towards Riley.

Maya reached out to grab the sleeve of his shirt and he turned back to her as she requested, "Can we just… one thing at a time? They need to be able to concentrate on helping Rachel without me throwing my problem of the week into this. So let's not let Riley know that anything's wrong in my life at the moment, okay? For everybody's sake?"

Lucas looked shrewdly at her, glancing at Zay too, before he reminded her, "I don't even know what's going on with you – although I could've sworn I heard Zay call Jack your dad."

Maya hesitated before she admitted softly, "You did – but I don't know that. It's a long story, but his being here could just be a coincidence anyway. The point is, Riley doesn't know anything about it yet, and I'd like to keep it that way for now."

"So you've been talking to Zay about things that you haven't even mentioned Riley?" Lucas asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile that said he thought he knew more than he actually did. "Well, alright then. Anyway, you need to come talk to her too, Maya. She things you're mad at her or something, and she's been freaking out because she can't get a hold of you."

"I know," Maya admitted with a frown and a small sigh. "So how about we go fix that, Huckleberry?"

He smiled, offering her his arm as he answered, "Good plan. From what I can tell, you're pretty good at fixing things. You've got nothing to worry about."

She rolled her eyes and put her hand on his arm before asking uncertainly, her thoughts flying back to Jack again, "Are you sure?"

Zay slipped up to put her free hand in the crook of his elbow as he assured her, "We're sure. Lucas and I have been getting each other in and out of trouble for forever; we'd be glad to have you officially join our little crew in the land of the imperfect people."

"I would be honored," Maya smiled at him before asking, "But are we sure that Riley's ready for a glimpse at that crew?"

"She already knows it exists," Zay pointed out. "It was kind of hard to miss when I first moved here."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed with him, looking down at Maya. "I think she's ready. She's kept you out of a lot of trouble, hasn't she? That's gotta stand for something."

Maya considered this before she asked, "Are you calling for the disbanding of the Riley committee?"

"No, just for honesty among the five of us, no matter what. Riley and Farkle – they're good at that. It's the three of us here who have trouble with it."

Maya shook her head thoughtfully before she suggested, "Alright, let's make a pact between the three of us – no more secrets," she thought of the way Lucas still didn't like to talk about his past in Texas and tacked on, "If it's something important that _needs_ to be told. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Zay seconded.

"Agreed," Lucas said. "But I think we should include Riley and Farkle too."

"Yup," Maya agreed. "We will. We have to have somebody," here she glanced at Zay knowingly. "Who's _always_ on the side of good to keep us out of juvie."

"So let's do this," Zay suggested.

Maya and Lucas nodded in tandem and the three of them stepped towards Riley and Farkle as one as Lucas and Maya echoed, "Let's do this."

* * *

Rachel was glad that the five teenagers had just escorted them onto the patio outside, because nearly as soon as they were gone, Topanga's voice raised an octave, gaining a few glances from other customers as she argued with whatever difficult idiot was on the other end of her call.

"No, now you're going to listen to me, Mr. 'senior partner' Harrison Miller! You are going to let me take this case," Topanga continued to seethe, "Or so help me, I will-"

Then suddenly there was a hand reaching out beside Rachel and over the counter to take the phone from the angry woman.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Rachel turned to see a twenty-something kid in glasses press the phone to his own ear and say calmly, "Hi. Mr. Miller? This is Thomas Murphy, personal assistant to Senator Matthews. It's my understanding that your firm has an admittedly unique agreement with Mrs. Matthews to allow her to hand-pick a certain number of the cases she handles. Now, the agreement may be unique, but is in writing, and if your firm cannot continue to deliver on it in this case, you've null and voided your agreement, leaving Mrs. Matthews free to pursue better job opportunities, and to be quite frank, the senator would love to have her on staff. I don't think you want that, do you? Good. So I'm going to hand you back over to Mrs. Matthews to discuss the particulars of what she needs done today, alright? Thank you."

He handed the phone to Topanga with a small smile, telling her, "If he gives you more trouble, I'll be here."

Topanga nodded happily – apparently she knew this young man… although he did seem familiar somehow – and went back to her conversation with her boss. Mr. Murphy turned to go sit down at the opposite end of the counter and Rachel followed him with his eyes, trying to figure out how she recognized him, until her attention was caught by someone else walking into Topanga's – the man who had come in with Mr. Murphy, and, she registered vaguely, Cory.

"Eric!" she yelped, dragging Jack over with her as she went to hug her old friend.

"Hey, Rach," Eric murmured, pulling him to her. "How are you doing?"

"Better now that Topanga's boss got his curls straightened by your assistant," she muttered. "I think she's finally getting to some of the papers I need."

"Yeah," there was a flare of pride in Eric's voice as he said, "That's my boy. Sometimes I think Tommy's more the senator than I am."

"That was Tommy?!" Rachel asked is surprise. "Your adopted little brother Tommy?"

Eric nodded, and now Rachel knew there was pride in his face. "Ain't it great how our kids turn out?"

Rachel looked beyond Eric, through the window to where Lucas sat with his friends outside. He'd done things in Texas that neither one of them were proud of, and since moving here he'd still been put in the position to go through things that it physically hurt her to think about. As she continued to watch, though, he took Riley's hands in his own before the brunette curled onto his lap and he kissed the top of her head, relief clear on his face. A small smile eased onto her face as she began to consider what this separation from her husband meant for Lucas – he'd made it through the horror show that their home with her husband could be, and now? Now he had the chance to live like someone his age should, and to become better than what his father had really _ever_ been.

"Mine's not there yet," she said. "But I sure believe he's going to turn out alright."

"That's all you can hope for from anyone and anything," Jack commented, and Rachel caught him looking out at the kids too, the strangest expression on his face, before he slung an arm around her waist – an old habit he'd had while they were dating and had resurrected today – and she couldn't help but smile.

This right here, surrounded by family and friends – maybe even with Jack at her side – was where she felt safest, and she almost wanted to hope that it would never end.

* * *

"So you don't hate me for not telling you?" Lucas asked Riley, running a hand through her hair.

She leaned back from him just enough to cup his face in her hands, declaring tenderly, "No, I don't hate you!" She took a deep breath. "I'm glad you told me… but I need you to know that you can come to me with anything, no matter what. Don't be afraid to…" she shook her head. "'Taint' me or whatever you want to call it. I'm here to walk through things _with_ you," she turned so that her sweeping gaze included Maya, Zay, and Farkle as well. "With all of you. No matter what. Promise me. You know what? All of us, let's promise each other right now that we're going to stick together and rely on each other – because we _do need_ each other." It was so much like what Maya had just suggested inside that Lucas couldn't help but smile. However, Riley wasn't done yet.

She gestured through the window to the adults clustered inside, pointing each out in turn. "Rachel, Eric, Jack. Cory, Topanga, Shawn, Katy. Old friends and new ones. Look at them. Uncle Eric told Maya and I a story the first time he came here, after he finished helping us sort out the 'short little stack of pancakes' thing." She looked at Maya as she asked, "Do you remember what he told us about?"

Maya smiled faintly to herself, answering, "Seven the hard way. When all the people in there – minus my mom, plus Angela – got into a fight in college, Rachel almost walked out on all of them, and that group of friends who meant so much to each other almost shattered on the spot. But they didn't. Eric brought her back into the room where he'd holed them all up, and the seven of them made up."

"And now look how many of them are here, still fighting for – and _with_ – one another." Riley pointed out. "Still seven… even though it's still hard. Because that's life – life _is_ hard, and I _do_ get that… but it's so much easier when we have one another. So from here on out, no matter what comes, let's promise to have one another's back." She raised her eyebrows expectantly, saying, "I promise."

"I promise," Lucas echoed with a smile.

"I promise." I promise." Zay and Farkle repeated.

Maya watched Riley's pleased expression through it all, knowing that Riley understood how big of a deal this could become. Wasn't that why she had suggested something similar? Or was it just because that's how much Riley had rubbed off on her?

Then it was her turn to speak, and she said willingly enough, "I promise."

And in the next second she realized that Riley knew she'd just backed her into a corner of sorts as the brunette asked quietly, "Then what's the deal with Uncle Jack?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"We'll talk about that later," Zay said before Maya could even form a reply.

Riley arched an eyebrow disapprovingly, and Maya spoke then, assuring her, "We'll talk about it – we will – but… not right now. Lucas and Rachel first. Until then… I'm good. It's our turn to take care of them, and then, if you wanna give it your best shot, you can take care of me, alright? _That's_ the promise that I need from you right now, Riles."

Riley was still frowning, so Zay added, "And she's not technically keeping it to herself; I know about it."

At that admission, Riley raised an eyebrow in an entirely different sort of way as she turned to Lucas, inquiring with a look.

Lucas grinned back at her, commenting, "Interesting idea, isn't it? Zay and Maya…"

Maya glanced at Zay in the same moment that he looked at her. She expected him to tell Lucas that he was crazy, a part of her thought maybe she should say it herself, but she didn't, and neither did he.

So Riley grinned and snuggled against her own boyfriend, declaring, "I approve of that idea."

"Me too," Lucas replied.

Zay snorted. "If I ever get a girlfriend, I'm not going to need your approval to date her, Lucas."

The older boy raised his eyebrows and glanced through the window – at Rachel and Jack, and, _good grief, what hadn't he guessed about this situation?_ – before he said cryptically, "Who knows?"

"I will never ask for _your_ approval before I go on a date!" Zay declared with a laugh.

Riley followed Lucas's line of sight, and both girls could tell what terrifying – _horrifying?_ – thought was beginning to niggle in the farthest recesses of his mind as he answered Zay passively, "We'll see."

Riley reclined against him again, murmuring, "Yes, we will."

* * *

As it turned out, once the six adult friends were reunited, no one was too keen on leaving the others, so they all – including Katy, Tommy, Auggie, and the five teenagers – ended up at the Matthews' apartment for supper. The place had never been more crowded, but still Riley managed to sneak Maya off to her room, taking Farkle, Lucas and Zay along with them before supper. Farkle and Lucas dropped onto the floor at the foot of Riley's bed and Zay sat with Maya and Riley on the window seat.

As soon as she was certain that they were alone, Riley asked, "Can we talk about whatever's bothering you now, Maya? I don't like it when we're not on the same page. I can't help you when we're like that."

"I don't need help right this instant, Riles," Maya insisted. "It can wait at least until the restraining orders against Mr. Friar are in place."

"Fine. What if I promise not to try to change anything about the situation until then, and you just tell me about the situation right now."

"Honey…" Maya said warningly.

Riley pled, "Please, peaches!"

Maya sighed, and glanced past Riley to Zay – _Should I tell her or wait?_ – but he only shrugged helplessly. She knew Riley much better than he did anyway, so she was the best one to make the decision to tell.

"I'm not even sure yet," Maya began carefully – and that was as far as she got before Zay interrupted.

"Wait!" he cried, springing to his feet suddenly. "Do you have a computer, a tablet, or something like that?"

"Yeah," Riley answered cautiously, nodding to the tablet on her desk. "Why…?"

"Zay!" Lucas snapped. Once again, someone obviously knew something about another in their group that no one else did.

"Just for this one thing!" Zay insisted, snatching up the tablet. "She wants to know something for sure, and I can tell her."

"And how many 'non-ethical' hacks are you going to have to do to get that information?"

"Not sure until I get there," Zay answered easily.

Maya interrupted in confusion, looking between the two boys. "Wait, what? Hacking?"

Zay didn't even break stride in whatever he was doing on Riley's tablet as he answered, "Back in Texas, in the trouble that Lucas and I got into, he was the brawn and I was brain."

"Sometimes," Lucas snorted.

"And in those times," Zay allowed. "I was the 'brains' by, yeah, hacking. I'm… unusually good with tech."

Maya thought of a number of words that she wasn't going to say in front of Riley as she moaned only, "Just don't get in trouble over it."

He glanced up at her then, asking, "What are you, my mom?"

"Your mom doesn't know that you still do stuff like this – and neither did I," Lucas muttered.

"I don't," Zay objected. "This is a special case, and then I'll never do it again."

"And, no, thank you very much, I'm not your mom," Maya muttered.

"Then what are you to him?" Lucas shot back, arching an eyebrow.

"What she is," Riley broke in. "Is distracted. Now, Maya, what are you going to tell me that I'm not going to fix yet?"

"This," Zay said solemnly, handing Maya the tablet.

The screen was already filled with an image of her birth certificate, and before she read the name of her father there, she procrastinated for a second by remarking, "Geez, you found it that quickly? You should offer your services to Farkle."

"It's him, pancakes," Zay informed her solemnly, sitting back down beside her. "Jack's your man."

"Uncle Jack is your man for what?" Riley demanded.

So Maya took a deep breath and told Farkle, Lucas and Riley what she'd discovered as Zay began to draw those circles on her back again.

* * *

After dinner was over, Farkle went home, promising that he'd explain to his father – the "filthy rich" man that Maya had mentioned earlier in the day – and Topanga put Auggie to bed. Zay told Maya "My mom texted; I gotta go home" and he was gone too. That left eleven people to crowd into the apartment's main area. Topanga, Eric, and Tommy stayed at the kitchen table, working to speed up Rachel's separation process from her husband. Katy and Shawn squeezed into the living room's chair together, Jack and Rachel sat on the couch, Riley and Maya took up their habitual place on the back of the couch, and Lucas flopped onto the floor, and after putting a movie in, Cory sat on the couch too.

For a little bit it was actually peaceful, even if they could all feel a storm of sorts heading their way.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Though the proverbial storm hadn't arrived just yet, a very physical one had started outside, and when a particularly loud roll of thunder interrupted the opening song in "The Happiest Millionaire," Riley promptly tumbled off the back of the couch, pitching forward so quickly that only practiced paternal hands managed to keep her from landing on the floor. Instead, she was left to protest weakly as Cory grinned and cradled her in his arms like she was a little child.

"Dad," she hissed her objection. "Lucas is _right there!_ "

From the other side of the coffee table, Lucas declared with an adoring smile, "And he thinks you're adorable just like that."

Riley huffed, but the day had worn on them all, and she was tired, so she didn't protest much, instead settling her head more comfortably on Cory's shoulder quickly enough while they watched the movie. However, without Riley on the back of the couch to help prop her up, Maya perch on the back of the couch became a little more precarious, and she swayed when another loud clap of thunder sounded.

"You know," Rachel looked over her shoulder at Maya and nudged Jack so that he opened up a sliver of space between her and him. "You can sit down here between us, if you want; there's room."

Even with Jack's movement, there was not a sufficient amount of space between the two adults for even her five-foot-nothing self, but Maya didn't point that out. Nor did she say aloud that she had no interest in sitting between the two inseparable lovebirds.

But, for once, sitting somewhere besides the back of the couch seemed like a good idea, so she suggested a compromise instead. "Could I sit by Riley?"

"Sure," Jack agreed, happily regaining the little amount of space he'd put between himself and Rachel.

Riley grinned up at Maya as the blonde slid down to sit, technically, between Jack and Cory. Huh. How had she not realized that being seated like this meant she would be sitting beside the father that she didn't know? She tensed without meaning to.

Obliviously, Riley drew her out of her thoughts as she cooed, "Aw, peaches…"

It was obvious that her best friend was already getting drowsy, staying still and surrounded by her father's warmth, so Maya grinned and left her be, turning her attention back to the movie and trying to relax. She mostly failed until a minute later, she felt Riley start to run her fingers gently through Maya's hair. The sensation was deliciously soothing, and Maya was tired enough herself. Riley fell asleep first, halfway through the movie, but by the time she did, Maya herself was barely conscious, and given the past few days, she couldn't even bring herself to care too much.

Before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep just as soundly as Riley had, without even noticing that her head was pillowed on Jack's shoulder.

* * *

When the movie ended, Rachel declared, "Lucas, we need to go home; you've got school tomorrow."

Lucas unfolded himself from the floor and moved to the door as Jack gave Rachel a bumbling one-armed hug while simultaneously trying not to jostle Maya. Then Eric came over and gave the redhead a hand up to stand before folding her into a hug of his own.

Topanga was the last one to hug her before the lawyer declared, "I'll call you tomorrow morning with the final details on getting those restraining orders, okay?"

Rachel nodded with a thin smile before she turned to the room at large and said to them, "Thank you all for showing up and taking such good care of me and Lucas today. It's so wonderful just having you all… be there."

"And we're not going anywhere just yet," Jack pointed out from the couch, though at the moment he wanted nothing more than to get up and gather Rachel into his arms, not just to hug, but to hold so she could be kept safe from all of this.

Rachel was wonderful at not showing it, but he could tell – and he'd bet that Lucas, and Eric, could too – that she was more than a little terrified by much of what was about to start happening. There were still a lot of variables that had to be figured out, and given the speed at which things appeared to be barreling along, those things were going to have to be figured out as they went. There was no real plan here, so far as he knew, except sticking together until the proverbial storm had passed. Still, that plan _had_ worked pretty well for this group in the past.

" _You're_ not going anywhere again either, Rachel," Topanga informed her firmly, swinging an arm around her waist – since she could hardly reach the other woman's shoulders comfortably. "We just got you back, and we don't plan on letting go for a good, long time."

"I'd like that," Rachel answered softly, her smile wavering as the walls she'd been keeping around her emotions threatened to crack. Jack knew her feelings were too close to the surface, knew that she wasn't quite ready to let them out, so he wasn't surprised when her eyes changed as she slammed down another wall and said cheerfully instead, "We'd better be going. Come on, Lucas."

She herded her son out the door in front of her and was gone.

Jack sought out Eric's eyes, knowing that if anyone else had caught Rachel's almost-meltdown, it would've been him. One glance at the senator confirmed that Eric had seen, but his shrug said that he didn't know what to do about it.

Happily oblivious, Cory declared, "Well, bedtime." Topanga was already settling back at the table to continue working on Rachel and Lucas's paperwork when her husband asked her, "Who are we stashing where overnight?"

"Ah," Topanga looked up from the paper she had been reading. "Actually, Eric, Auggie asked while I was tucking him in if you could share his room with him while you're here. He even slept in a little hammock that Riley and Maya set up a while back so that you could have his bed."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Eric grinned. "Sure, I'd love to stay with my cousin Auggie! Are you going to need any more senator weight thrown around tonight? If not, I think I may hit the sack."

"Go ahead," Topanga waved a hand in the direction of Auggie's bedroom. "Go get some sleep, you dummy politician, you."

"Aw," Eric came up behind his sister-in-law and squeezed her in a bear hug. "I love you too! Good night, Tomato!"

Topanga moved as much as Eric's grip would allow her to and hit him in the arm with the sheaf of papers she'd been studying. "Get out of here!"

Eric obeyed, laughing as he went. After today, laughter was a nice sound, Jack realized.

Cory carefully stood up from the couch, Riley still in his arms, and went to deposit his sleeping daughter in her room.

"Is there really anything left here for me to do right now?" Tommy asked Topanga curiously, looking up from his tablet that he'd been working off of.

"No, I don't think so."

"Then where am I going to be sleeping?" he inquired, moving to shut his tablet down.

Topanga glanced around the open floorplan before hazarding, "How about Cory and mine's bay window?"

"Works for me," Tommy agreed, disappearing to go get ready for bed.

"I can just stay here on the couch," Jack volunteered.

"But that's _my_ spot!" Shawn complained instantly.

"You know," Topanga grinned pointedly as she looked between Shawn and Katy, "Maya is _always_ welcome to stay here overnight if you'd like her to."

"In which case, Mr. Shawn," Katy snuggled into her boyfriend. " _You_ can come back to my empty apartment with me, _if you'd like to._ "

Jack barked a laugh as Shawn told him without a moment's thought, "You can have their crummy couch."

Raising an eyebrow, Jack answered drolly, "Thanks."

"Any time."

"What?" Tommy slipped by, going to his bed for the night as Cory spoke, coming back into the room, having apparently heard enough of the conversation to know what he was talking about when he asked, "Aren't you going to jet off with the lady, Shawnie?"

"Nah, not just yet," Shawn replied easily. "I haven't seen Jack in a while. I figured there's some stuff we'd like to get caught up on in each other's lives before Katy and I leave."

Well, that certainly sounded like code for _Talking about the Maya situation_ , if Jack had ever heard anything of the sort. He squirmed nervously, though Shawn's tone had been perfectly innocent.

Thankfully, Cory didn't notice Jack, just gave Shawn an odd look before he said, "Okay, you can do that, but Topanga and I are going to bed like sane people, because it is late." Then he turned to his wife, eyed the work she was still concentrating on, and asked her suspiciously, "You _are_ going to bed, aren't you?"

"Not everything is ironed out for Rachel's divorce yet, Cory," she answered absently.

Sighing a little sadly, like he understood just what was driving Topanga to push herself so hard with this case – didn't they all? – Cory walked over and splayed his hand over the papers she was reading. "And it isn't possible to iron it all out _tonight_." He took her hands, tugged her to her feet, and instructed gently, "Come to bed; you're going to push yourself way too hard on this one – and don't tell me you won't; I _know_ you, Topanga – and you need to get some rest. You can save the world tomorrow, Wonder Woman."

"But if I could just get the-" Topanga began feebly, only to be cut off.

"Topanga," Cory said, gentle, firm, and sincere all at once – doing his best to look out for the woman he loved.

In that moment, Jack could completely understand why his little brother had idolized Cory and Topanga's relationship for so long.

The lawyer sighed, giving in with a weary, "All right."

Then, so long as you didn't count Maya asleep on his shoulder, Jack, Shawn, and Katy were alone. None of them knew where to start in this conversation that they obviously needed to have.

But after glancing over to make sure that Tommy was oblivious to them across the room – he had his eyes closed and earbuds in – Shawn offered, "I won't devolve into beating you up and breaking your nose if you'll promise me the same thing."

Katy looked between the brothers with a flash of horror in her eyes, but Jack snorted a laugh as he agreed, "Definitely not." Still, he felt the need to ask a rather scary question of them both, but he automatically looked at Shawn first as he questioned softly, "Are we okay?"

Jack had almost expected Shawn to verify before the words were entirely out of his mouth, but he didn't. He took a second to think it over before he nodded slowly, thoughtfully – and somehow that was so much more of a comfort to Jack. He'd just been given a sincere answer, not something that was meant to repress the issue like he and Shawn were both so good at doing, and that was a relief.

Satisfied he was on okay footing with his brother, Jack's gaze swung hesitantly to Katy as he asked, "What about us? Don't we at least need to be on speaking terms and on the same page and… whatever stuff good parents do… for Maya's sake?"

"I think we can manage that," Katy grinned, and Jack realized that he was the only one who was really nervous here.

After all, he was the interloper into the little family that these three had built with one another. But for Maya, for his daughter – wow that was going to take some getting used to – he would do his best to stay in her life… if Katy and Shawn let him. Because, biology be hanged, he already knew better than to try and _take Shawn's place_ in Maya's life. He would just have to carve out his own little spot – if _Maya_ even wanted him around for that matter.

As if she'd heard him speak the question aloud, Maya curled further into him, and only then did he feel that she was shivering. Twisting around, he tugged down the blanket that was laying across the back of the couch and draped it across her instead, doing his best not to shift her. God forbid she woke up to the three adults having this conversation.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Jack turned his attention back to Katy and said gratefully, "Good, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a lot of help learning how to do this dad thing."

"I think you know more than you think you do," Shawn declared, smiling a little as he eyed the picture Jack and Maya made.

Jack snorted. "Really?"

"Really. See, Cory mentioned to me before that that's the great secret that no parent thinks of when they come into a kid's life a little late. They see the 'perfect' parents running around with their well-behaved kids, looking like they know exactly what to do whenever problems come up, and they freak out. I know I did. Wasn't it you that I called after that night where we'd dug up that time capsule in Feeny's backyard?"

"Yeah," Jack recalled a little wonderingly. "It was."

His baby brother had been terrified of how Maya had confessed to believing in him, to wanting him to "just be out there for" her, and though he hadn't understood what Shawn was going through, they were brothers, so he'd listened. Now he _understood_.

"And you told me to just give it time, to watch what happened next and go from there. Well, I took your advice." Shawn squeezed Katy's shoulder and they looked adoringly at each other as he continued, "And look where it got me." Tearing his eyes away from Katy, Shawn looked back at Jack as he said, "My point is that maybe you need to take your own advice. Just take it a day at a time and watch what happens next." He smiled. "It could be wonderful."

"I'm not good at that and you know it," Jack reminded him, frustration lacing his tone as he shook his head. "I like plans, order, lists, goals – knowing what's coming next. And how could you say that this could turn out well with everything that's going on?!"

Shawn blinked at him, confused for the second before understanding dawned in his eyes and he said simply, "Ah."

"'Ah' what?" Jack asked irritably.

"It's not just your daughter you're thinking about right now, is it?" Shawn asked with a knowing smile. "Is there another woman weighing on your mind, big brother?"

"Of course there is!" Jack exclaimed. "How could there not be? You know what I – what we…" he trailed off with a frustrated huff, wincing when Maya stirred at the heightened volume of his voice.

The three adults tensed until she settled without waking, and then Shawn raised his eyebrows at Jack, continuing their conversation by saying, "I know what you and Rachel _were_ , and I know what you and Maya _are_. She-" Shawn nodded towards Maya. "Has to be your priority here. She's why you came to begin with, isn't she?"

"Of course," Jack repeated in exasperation. "But it's not as if I could foresee this thing with Rachel and Lucas's being abused popping up, either, Shawn."

They were on the cusp of having an argument that Jack just didn't think he could handle – could _afford_ – right now.

His little brother shot back instantly, "Do you think any of us could?"

"I think Maya knew about at least some of it, at least recently," Katy spoke up, and whether it was merely to distract them or if she had a point, Jack couldn't tell.

"She did," he verified, taking the bait either way as he glanced at Maya. "I don't know how she knew, but she was trying to convince Rachel to leave her husband when I walked into that McDonald's." He bit his lip before he admitted, "We never even talked about… her paternity" He snorted. "I even panicked and gave her a fake name in McDonald's so we could keep the conversation with Rachel going."

"Well, she's definitely heard your real name at some point today, I'm sure," Katy said.

Jack didn't miss the fond thread of fatherly pride in Shawn's voice as he added, "She's smart; not much gets by her, so that I've seen."

"Do you think that she's figured out that I'm…" the words were strange and heavy on his tongue. "Her father?"

Shawn narrowed his eyes and surveyed the sleeping girl before he murmured, "I'm not sure."

Katy shrugged her own agreement with Shawn's assessment before Jack volunteered, "She hasn't brought it up today, if that's anything to go by."

"But that could mean very little," Katy informed him.

Shawn agreed. "I wouldn't put it past her to know, but have already decided to keep it to herself until Rachel and Lucas are taken care of." He smiled ruefully. "Rachel would say she's like you in that." He turned to Katy when the thought occurred to him, "And I'd say it came from you too. Poor kid got a double dose of selflessness." He looked back at Jack. "Which is why you're going to have to be the one to make your relationship with her a priority. She won't do that herself until she's sure that everybody else is okay."

"I can do both of those things at once, then," Jack declared. "I'll put forth the effort to get to know Maya, but I _will not_ hurt Rachel in the process. I _can't_ right now."

Shawn opened his mouth to protest, but Katy put a gentle hand on his wrist, saying, "He's right, you know. Right now Rachel's going through a tough time and she needs him to be her safe place. He already became that when he convinced her to leave her husband, and there's no way that _anyone_ should try to take that away from her right now."

Jack smiled gratefully at her – _how's that for being on the same page?_ – before he told Shawn gently, "I can balance them. I can and I will… because, not to toot my own horn… but I think that they both need me – even if Maya doesn't know it yet. Because as very little sense as I know it makes…" he looked down at Maya – a mess of blonde hair, blanket, and _finally_ relaxed features – as he breathed, "I think I already love my kid."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"I don't even know her, but…" Jack shrugged, repeating, "I love her. And I want to do right by her. So… fine, maybe she can't be _the_ priority right now, but – you have to trust me here – she _is_ a priority. I would love to be her dad if she'll let me, and I _will_ work towards that end – because, yeah, she is the reason that I came."

And Rachel and her divorce was now one of the reasons that he was going to stay longer than the twenty-four hour visit he had planned, but Shawn and Katy didn't need to know that.

Shawn stared at him for a beat, reading the genuine sincerity in his Jack's eyes before he nodded. "Okay."

"So we're still good?" Jack asked skeptically. "Maya, Katy, Rachel… all of it? We're okay?"

"Yeah," a small smile tugged at the corners of Shawn's mouth. "Yeah, we're okay."

"Good. Because I have no intention of hurting anyone, much less… taking away someone you loved first."

Then Shawn's smile became genuine. "Thanks, man."

"Anytime, little brother," Jack grinned back, smile widening when he saw the way Shawn frowned at the title just like in the old days. "Now, go on, you two, get out of here, and quit wasting your time on little ole me. And turn the light off as you go, would you?"

Shawn and Katy chuckled as they obediently untangled themselves and stood from the chair, going to the door. Katy slipped out, but Shawn paused a second in the open doorway before he turned back to Jack and said almost hesitantly, "It's good to see you again… big brother."

"Yeah, you too," Jack nodded as Shawn flipped the light off and walked out, shutting the door behind himself as he went. In the darkness, he muttered, "Yeah, Shawn, I love you too." He smiled thoughtfully down at Maya, brushing the lightest of kisses against her forehead as he whispered, "And you too."

Then he settled back against the couch, getting comfortable where he was as he started to card his hand through Maya's hair like he'd seen Riley do. Maya didn't even stir, and he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the couch, quickly nodding off for the night.

* * *

Tommy Murphy hadn't gotten all the information for his blog that he had by always playing by the rules. It had required observational skills, following his gut, investigating, and even, occasionally, doing things that might be frowned upon.

As it turned out, he ended up doing exactly that today. Walking by the tables outside of Topanga's when he and Eric had first arrived, he'd noticed that the kids seemed to be having an in-depth, if not outright troubled, conversation about something. So he'd followed his gut tonight and done some investigating… by doing something that would definitely be frowned upon. When he'd laid down on the bay window, ostensibly to go to sleep, he'd employed an old eavesdropping trick by putting his earbuds in, but leaving his music off so that he could still hear what was being said around him.

Shawn had glanced over at him before beginning the conversation with Jack and Katy once the trio had thought they were the only ones to hear what was said, and the man had obviously written him off as oblivious when he was anything but. So now Tommy knew what was going on with Maya's family situation, he could hear Jack's and Maya's even breathing in the otherwise silent room… and for once he wasn't sure what to do with what he'd found out.

It would be ridiculous to put something like this into a blog post, of course, but what he was really considering was whether or not he should talk to any of the people involved. It could be that if he found out more, he could be a help… or it might work so that if he pried too much, he made the situation worse. Considering the situation, he decided that he didn't want to do nothing… but that it might be best for him to wait and see if a situation naturally came up for him to get involved in. Or not.

He'd just have to wait and see, and keep what he knew to himself for right now.

But he would definitely keep his eyes and ears open, because he wanted to see this issue resolved without a hitch, whether it was with or without his help.

Sighing softly as he came to the unsatisfactory conclusion, he rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

Maya grumbled wordlessly, brushing clumsily at the hand running over her arm as someone attempted to wake her up. Not even bothering to open her eyes, she did her best to pull the blanket up to her chin and bury her face deeper into whatever strange-feeling pillow she'd landed on last night.

Still the irritating movement on her arm persisted and a voice that she knew but couldn't be bothered to identify yet cajoled gently, "Wake up, Angel Eyes. I've heard horror stories about Topanga's oatmeal, and I want to make pancakes before she gets down here."

"Go 'way, Zay – an' don' call me Pancakes!" she demanded, still half asleep as she slapped irritably at the arm that wouldn't leave her be.

"What?" The voice barked an amused laugh. "I'm not your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Maya whined, and then she was suddenly sitting bolt upright, eyes wide as she realized who she was talking to.

Jack! Last night slowly came back to her, and she remembered. Movie… couch… Jack and Riley…She had fallen asleep on Jack's shoulder! And he'd never bothered to move her…? She wasn't sure what to think of such a… sweet… gesture, and it left her feeling instantly out of sorts. This was not the sort of thing she wanted to deal with this early in the morning!

She pulled herself out of her thoughts in time to notice Jack raising an unconvinced eyebrow at her, muttering in amusement, " _Sure_ he's not…"

"He's not!" she insisted, flipping messy locks of her hair out of her face as she demanded irritably, "What sort of a father says that anyway?!"

And then they both froze because, gosh dang it, she wasn't supposed to know that!


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Jack blinked first, recovering well enough to mutter, "An amateur one."

Maya snorted, flipping the blanket away and heading towards the kitchen with him at her side as she grumbled, "Well, you're in luck; I'm an amateur at even having a father."

"What about Kermit?" he asked casually as she slid onto the bench at the table and he got the milk out of the fridge.

She snorted again, not sure what to make of how easily he'd handled her announcement of her knowing that he was her father but entirely willing to keep up a running conversation on something else if it meant not having to discuss the elephant in the room. "He walked out when I was six."

"Ah." Jack put both the gallon of milk and a number of eggs on the table, starting to root quietly around the kitchen as he asked with his back still turned to her, "What about Shawn?"

Maya smiled, almost despite herself, as she answered fondly, "Shawn's been great."

Jack turned around, leaning against the counter and surveying her as he asked oh so casually, "Like a real father to you, huh?"

"Yeah," Maya murmured, not sure why she almost regretted giving him the truthful answer, before she asked, "So, what were you looking for?"

Jack went along with the subject change – for the moment, anyway – as he replied, "Mixing bowls, measuring cup, spoon, pan, flour."

Maya got up from the table and put the things he wanted on the table, sitting back down and starting to crack the eggs in a bowl as he mixed the other ingredients together. Then he asked, "Would you like Shawn to be your father?"

Maya froze for all of a split second with an egg dangling over the bowl as it hit her what he was actually asking. Then she lowered the shell onto the table as she bought another second to think that inquiry over. _Could Jack actually give up whatever parental rights he has to Shawn?_ She wasn't sure. And now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure that's what Shawn – or maybe even she, for that matter – would want, anyway.

Finally she replied honestly, "I don't know. I think I'm fine with what we have now… no real labels, no real expectations, just the knowledge that he's out there for me… and whenever Mom or I need him to be, he'll be _here_ for us."

Jack nodded slowly, considering that as Maya dumped the eggs into the dry mix. He stirred the batter together as Maya grabbed cooking spray and greased the pan, then she stood to the side, really _studying_ him for the first time as he put the first spoonful of batter into the pan on the stove.

And she noticed something that she was surprised not to have seen before. He was wearing a Ralph Lauren polo, wingtip shoes, a _real_ Rolex watch, and high-end jeans of a brand that she had no real hope of naming. Somehow, Jack Hunter apparently had some real money.

He gave her a curious side-eye, grinning broadly – good grief, he even looked like a California surfer – as he asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Money," she blurted before she'd even thought about it.

See, this was why she didn't do important or emotionally heavy conversations before seven a.m.!

Jack's lips thinned and he released a silent sigh before he asked a little shortly, trying and mostly failing to keep the tension from his voice, "Is that going to be a problem for you?"

"No." Her eyebrows drew together in confusion as she asked, "Why would _your_ money be a problem for _me_ – as long as you're not going to shove it down my throat?"

He chuckled, grinning again as all of the tension fled his stance and he told her, "You're a good kid, Maya."

She scoffed. "Shawn must not have told you as much about me as I thought he had if you think that."

"Oh, he has."

"Then…" she looked curiously at him. "Why'd you call me an angel?"

He flipped the pancake then turned his full attention to her as he corrected, "I said 'Angel Eyes.'"

"Why?" Maya repeated.

"Because that's the first thing I really noticed about you." He shrugged, informing her, "You have my mother's eyes."

Maya just smiled at that. "Hm."

"You don't mind me calling you that, do you?" he asked cautiously.

She shook her head, masking how much she actually _did_ like it behind a roll of her eyes as she said, "It's actually one of the nicer nicknames I've been given."

"What are the bad ones?" he inquired with a smile.

"Um…" she searched her memory for a second before she pointed at the plate of finished pancakes. "Pancakes, for one."

"Where _did_ that one come from?"

She shook her head. "It's a long story, I promise. But you could ask Eric about that one, actually."

Jack grinned as he turned back to the stove. "I think I will."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a moment before Maya asked, "How long are you going to be here?"

"I don't know," Jack replied thoughtfully. He raised an eyebrow at her as he asked, like neither one of them were sure if he was teasing, "Do you want me to leave?"

Maya rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time as she answered, "I was only asking because of your job or whatever."

"I'm one of those people with the boring business jobs that they can do anytime, anywhere as long as I have my laptop with me, which I do, so unfortunately you're out of luck… Angel Eyes."

At the addition of the loving nickname, Maya paused just short of pinching off a bit of a finished pancake to throw at him. Instead she thought of a different topic to discuss, studying him again for a second as she decided whether or not to risk it.

 _What the heck, it's not like either of us can run from the other._

"Can I ask a question?"

"Sure," Jack shrugged, glancing up from the stove. "Shoot."

"You loved Rachel once, didn't you?"


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Jack froze very tellingly for all of a second before he slid a pancake from the pan to the plate as he answered, once again far too casually, "We were roommates in college, and, yeah, we dated for a little while."

Maya bit back a smile, jumping up to sit on the edge of the counter so that she could better watch Jack's face as she asked, "Do you still love her?"

"I still care for all six of the friends I hung out with then," he answered evasively. "I'd like to think most of us are still reasonably close."

"Uh-uh," Maya shook her head. "You know that's not what I mean."

Jack took a deep breath. "I really don't think this is even appropriate to discuss. It doesn't even matter, considering that she's, you know, _still married_."

Maya was a master of evasion, and she easily recognized it here as she continued her line of questioning with, "What about once her divorce is finalized?"

He shrugged, just as determined not to give a straight answer as she was to get one. "What about it?"

* * *

On Cory and Topanga's bay window, on the other side of the open floorplan, Tommy had been awake for a while, listening to father and daughter chatter and not wanting to interrupt it with his presence. Now, though, it sounded like Jack could use some rescuing, so Tommy rolled off of the window seat and padded into the kitchen on socked feet, pointedly ignoring the look of relief that flashed across Jack's face as he sat down at the table.

"Morning, Tommy," Jack greeted cheerfully, both men ignoring the irritation in Maya's eyes as her father asked Tommy, "Do you want some pancakes?"

Tommy shrugged. "Sure."

Surrendering to the fact that she would get no further answers from Jack, Maya hopped off of the counter and made Tommy a plate of pancakes. By the time she set them in front of him, though, her eyes were clouded with another thought – and it was a troubling one at that, if her micro expressions was anything to go by.

Tommy thanked her, unsurprised when she sat down across from him. After a minute of silence, she asked – too casually for the inquiry to actually _be_ a casual one – "I'm curious – do you still think that Eric would've made a good dad?"

Tommy just barely managed to keep his expression neutral as he instantly started trying to figure out where she was going with that question, and he chewed and swallowed his bite of pancake slowly to buy himself a little time before he answered honestly, "I do."

"Really?" she asked, still keeping her tone carefully curious as she pointed out, "From what I've heard, he used to barely be able to take care of himself – and he did leave you once already, when he realized there were different parents waiting for you to be theirs. Aren't you afraid he'll do that again?"

 _Wait, what?_ The proverbial lightbulb went off above Tommy's head as he realized, _She's talking about her and Shawn, not Eric and I…_ "No," he answered, thinking through his answer carefully. "He doesn't have any reason to leave me this time around. When he gave me up when I was a kid, he did that because he loved me so much he wanted to do what was best for me even if it hurt him."

"But…" Now she was really thinking too. "But what if he was put in a situation – again – where he thought it would be best to leave you? Wouldn't he abandon you then?"

Tommy took a deep breath, because he honestly didn't know the answer to that one – actually, he admitted to himself, he probably did; it just wasn't what Maya needed to hear right now, not considering what they were _actually_ talking about here. "First of all, Eric never _abandoned_ me; he's not the type. But he _is_ the type of person to convince people to leave _him_ if he believes that would put them in a better situation." He debated saying it, but decided to anyway. "I think Shawn's kind of that way also, so maybe you can understand it too."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tommy noticed Jack whip around behind Maya and start to keep an ear tuned carefully into the conversation as he suddenly realized what was going on in his kid's head.

Still Tommy continued, "But I think something that both of them have started to realize in the years that I was gone – I guess maybe more so Shawn than Eric, for whatever that's worth – is that sometimes love is selfish. It's more than 'if you love something, you let it go.' Sometimes you love someone so much that you _can't_ let them go. Isn't that why we keep up with family members who live across the country, whether they're parents, children, aunts and uncles" he gestured minutely to Jack as he added, "Siblings? Because as much as we don't always like them, we _love_ them? We _need_ them? I know that even though I didn't reach out to Eric until I heard he was running for senator, I looked him up as soon as I turned eighteen, years ago. Eric has kept relatively decent tabs on the six other people who were in his friend group in college. Sometimes people become a part of us, Maya, and we _can't_ leave them behind; we don't even want to… and they don't want to leave us, either. So they just don't. No matter what happens, no matter how many miles away from us they are, they're still… if nothing else, 'out there for' us." He cocked his head to the side, ignoring the way her eyes suddenly blew wide at his phrasing before he asked carefully, "Do you understand what I'm trying to get across here?"

She canted her head to the side right back at him, managing to say only, "huh," and then, eventually, thoughtfully, "Yeah. Yeah, I do." She smiled timidly. "Thanks, Murphy."

He returned the gesture. "Anytime."

Whatever thoughts showed through in Maya's eyes looked like they might be just a little less burdensome as she stood up from the table and made a plate of pancakes for herself.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

A little over an hour later, everyone was up and about and working towards getting to wherever the needed to be for the day. After Eric had gotten dressed, Jack had dragged him into the hallway outside of the apartment, and judging by what little she'd seen of their interactions, Maya could only guess that Jack was telling Eric what the older Hunter brother was to her. But in the midst of the all-around chaos and trying to get ready in the crowded apartment by the time they needed to leave for school, she hardly had time to think about it.

When Mr. Matthews called out that it was time for the three of them to go, Riley picked up both girls' backpacks and shoved Maya's at her with the driest of saccharine smiles. "How convenient that you left your books here before my family went to Philadelphia."

Maya shot her a smile that was as dry as Riley's own and slung her bag onto her shoulder. At least she remembered leaving her sketchpad in the backpack; that was a small conciliation if she was actually going to have to carry it around herself all day today. She followed Riley from the safe corner that was her friend's bedroom and out into the fray of the main room.

Riley nearly tripped over Auggie as he darted past her to throw his arms around his father's waist. "Bye, Daddy! Have a good day at school."

Matthews leaned down to hug his son with a smile, offering, "You too, little man."

Topanga came over and hugged Riley before she took Auggie to preschool, kissing her daughter loudly on the forehead as she said, "Have a good day at school, sweetie."

Riley grinned, replying, "Have a good day in court, Mom. Knock 'em dead."

Something flickered across Topanga's face as she said a little grimly, "Oh, I wish I could…"

She was thinking of Mr. Friar, Cory, Riley, and Maya all realized. Cory and Riley hugged Topanga at the same time, and Auggie joined the group embrace just because he could, even though he didn't understand what was meant by his mother's words.

And in the middle of watching all of this, Maya suddenly felt tired, and found herself wishing that she'd just slept in her own apartment, her own bed, the night before. At least that way, in the middle of the craziness they'd gone through, the craziness that was yet to come, she could've had that one normal, sane routine morning at home alone with Katy before she came here to walk with Riley to school.

Thanks to Katy's much more stable – and flexible – hours at Topanga's, Maya could now predict how a normal morning would go. Her mom would come into the room and tried to rouse her at least three times before Maya took her seriously. The fourth time she came into the room if Maya wasn't awake, she dragged Maya's blankets away from her, taking them completely off the bed, and if a fifth time was necessary, she would've brought ice chips in with her to put down Maya's shirt. Because if Katy had to deal with convincing her definitely-not-a-morning-person daughter to get out of bed five days a week, then at least she was going to have some fun with it.

When Maya was finally up, she'd take just a little too long actually _waking_ up while she was in the shower, so she'd have to run around the apartment, getting ready at breakneck speed and heading for the door just in time to make it to the Matthews' for the breakfast that Topanga would insist she eat.

Half of the time, Katy would have to call her back before she was even a handful of steps away from their apartment and hand her the backpack that Maya had forgotten to grab. Then, just like Cory and Topanga with their own kids, she'd give Maya a hug, murmur "Have a good day, baby girl," and Maya would hug her back, whispering "You too, Mom," before she left.

When Katy did have to call her back for her book bag, that exchange unfailingly became Maya's favorite moment of the day with her mom, because they'd not gone out into the great big world yet that day, no problem of the week had been unearthed at that point. They were just mom and daughter, doing a normal thing, exchanging a simple gesture and words that meant so much.

And standing there in the Matthews' living room, Maya wished she'd been able to have that this morning.

Instead, she suddenly realized that she had Riley waving a hand in front of her face, startling her from her daze as the brunette demanded, "Earth to Maya; we're going to be late to school! Dad's already on his way there. Let's go!"

Almost without looking for her to follow, Riley darted out of the apartment. Maya shook her head to clear her thoughts before she noticed that she was being left and took off, trying to catch up with her best friend. She was so zeroed in on catching up with the flash of brown hair that was Riley as she started down the stairs that she didn't notice Jack and Eric still talking near the entrance to the apartment, didn't notice when her backpack slid off of her shoulders.

She barely registered Jack calling her name, and she skidded to a sudden stop, whipping around to face him. He scooped down and picked up her backpack, jogging the few feet to get to her with a smile on his face. "You dropped this – don't want to forget it, do you?"

"Oh, thanks," she said, startled at having dropped it as she inhaled deeply to keep from getting out of breath already.

He shrugged, handing it over with a casual, "Anytime." He watched her shrug it over her shoulders – both this time, so she wouldn't drop it – and touched her elbow just before she started running down the hall again. She looked at him expectantly, and he startled her one more time – in this instant, simply because of the lovingly amused look in his eyes – she knew that look; _Matthews gave Riley that look!_ – as he offered, "Have a good day at school, Angel Eyes."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Albeit incidentally, he was acting just like Katy, Cory, and Topanga… Like a real parent. Her brain wanted to short circuit a little at that thought.

"Ah… yeah. You too… Jack."

And then she was off and running again, suddenly missing Katy just a bit less as she very firmly told herself not to think about the fact that she'd just considered calling Jack "Dad."

She loped from a run to a walk outside the apartment building as she realized that Riley had stopped to wait for her at the bottom of the steps that led to the sidewalk. Riley matched her stride without Maya even having to hesitate, and Riley calmed a little not that they were actually on their way to school.

In less than thirty seconds, Riley announced happily, "I have an idea for a scheme!"

"Do you?" Maya asked in amusement, already mentally trying to figure out how in the world they were supposed to fit whatever Riley wanted to do into what was going to start happening with Rachel and Lucas in the next few days.

Riley nodded gleefully before she asked thoughtfully, "Is it just me, or do Jack and Mrs. Friar like each other?"

Maya missed a beat and waited to answer until her steps were back in sync with Riley's. Even then she only said warningly, "Riles…"

Hearing the tone in the blonde's voice, Riley pointed out passionately, "He makes her smile, Maya! Even laugh – during all of _this_! Don't tell me that isn't love!"

"I didn't say it wasn't love," Maya answered slowly, very aware that she'd tried to talk to Jack about this exact subject earlier this morning. So she quoted Jack exactly as she answered, "I really don't think this is even appropriate to discuss. It doesn't even matter, considering that she's, you know, _still married_."

"But what about when she isn't married to Lucas's dad anymore?" Riley asked, and the glance she shot Maya revealed that the romantic in her was far gone on this idea.

"I don't know about what then," Maya sighed, suddenly feeling at least a little repentant for having pestered Jack about it earlier. But still, the other side of her brain pointed out that the fact that both she and Riley – and if she had to guess, even Lucas that one time – had seen something between the two, and that couldn't just be a coincidence. On the other – sane – side of things, though… "But I know that until the divorce is finalized, we just need to leave them be. What happens, happens." At Riley's less than thrilled look, Maya pointed out, "… And it would probably be a good idea for us to just sit back and watch them," she rolled her eyes. "And be amazed. We'll want to be more certain of what we're dealing with between them before we start planning a real scheme, anyway, right?"

Because, really, the more she thought about it, Maya became more and more in favor of Jack and Rachel getting together. Just not _right this second._

"Besides," Maya reminded Riley. "We'd really have to make sure Lucas is on board with the idea." She shot Riley an only half teasing glance as she added, "He'd _freak_ if you tied _him_ up so you could set his mom up."

That placated Riley well enough for now as she linked her arm through Maya's and pointed out happily, "I'm pretty sure you freaked out when we did it to you too."

"Well, it _was_ my birthday!" Maya grinned.

By the time the duo got to school – somehow with time to spare – they were both relaxed and chattering as easily as ever – only to find Farkle waiting for them by Riley's locker, anxiety written clearly across his features.

Riley asked the obvious question instantly, "What is it?"

"Lucas. Janitor closet." With those few words the trio was hurrying in that direction while Farkle explained further. "Zay's with him already, but… he said Mrs. Matthews called his mom this morning, and Mrs. Friar relayed the message to Lucas that Mrs. Matthews and Eric had talked to the right people and got some things rushed along. The court proceedings for getting the restraining orders for Lucas and his mom are set for after school lets out today – and Mr. Friar is coming back early so that he can be here for it all. Lucas is, we think, having an anxiety attack."

Alarmed, Riley began to ask, "An actual anx-" but when she saw the affirming look on Farkle's face, the three of them just started running outright.

The last one in the janitor's closet, Maya shut the door behind the three of them as Farkle and Riley went straight to Lucas, where he was sitting on a discarded crate. Content that his best friend was in good hands, Zay left Lucas's side and came to her as she leaned against the desk that Farkle had used that one time.

"Is he okay?" she breathed, looking over Zay's shoulder at the blonde boy.

"He will be," Zay replied just as softly, glancing at Lucas before he turned back to her and surreptitiously brushed his fingertips against her arm as he whispered, "How about you?"

"Me?" Maya shrugged, brushing off the question and his discerning gaze as she replied, "I'm fine; we're still concentrating on Lucas and Rachel right now, remember?"

He just stared at her for a beat, looking none too happy about the shutdown, before he replied, still keeping his voice low, "Okay, have it your way."

Watching the way that Riley and Farkle were slowly drawing Lucas out of his panic, she asked, "Is there anything that we can do for him?"

Zay considered this thoughtfully for a second without saying anything, but he was already shaking his head. Even if it was a subconscious gesture, Maya could guess what it meant, guess what he was thinking. The he said, "I've been trying to get him to talk about this before he even left Texas, and I never could. Nothing anybody ever did could get him to open up about it. These past twenty-four hours are the most he's ever addressed the situation, and I'm afraid that breaking down every once in a while like this is the only way he ever will."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

"No." It was Maya's turn to shake her head, already rejecting that notion. "He's surrounded by good people here who _want_ to help. There's _got_ to be someone who can get through to him. He _cannot_ keep tearing himself apart like this over things that are not his fault."

Her voice started to get a little pitchy, and Zay put another soothing hand on her arm as he murmured, "I know." There was some new thread in his tone that made Maya look at him more closely and he stared right back at her, thinking, calculating, considering her for a long moment before he swallowed, sighed, glanced away from her and back again before admitting, "I've been looking into some things – through, you know… hacking again – and I think I may have stumbled onto somebody who _could_ potentially reach him… somebody who's… been through some of this himself when he was a kid. I think he could reach Lucas if he'd be willing to talk to him."

"Then let's get in touch with this guy!" Maya said instantly. "Let's make him talk to Lucas!" Then she noticed the way that Zay was shaking his head again, and drew up short, asking, "What? Is something wrong?"

"No," he answered, but Maya got the feeling that he was hedging around something.

Hesitantly, she asked, "Is he… a bad guy? Somebody from the rougher crowd you guys ran with in Texas?"

"Nope," he answered succinctly.

"Then who is he?"

He shook his head again, answering only, "Nope." At her confused look, he elaborated slightly. "Let me handle this one, Pancakes, you have enough on your plate."

Maya narrowed her eyes, seeing straight through him. "You don't have to hide this from me; I really don't care who this guy is, and quite frankly, after the past few days, nothing is really going to get to me anymore. Life cannot possibly hold any more surprises for me. No matter who this friend of yours is, I seriously doubt anything will ever surprise me ever again."

"I need you to trust me with this one," Zay said unwaveringly. "Trust my judgement this time around."

"What does it matter if I know?" she hissed.

"Why does it matter if you don't?" he countered.

"Because I'm sick of people hiding things from me!"

"Sometimes," he answered levelly, a silent reminder to keep her own voice down. "Hackers stumble onto things that they never meant to find, and in those moments, they – I – have to make a judgement call on keeping the knowledge to myself, or giving it out. I am _trying_ to find a way to do this that's best for everyone, even," he sighed. " _Especially_ … the people most closely involved. So don't look at it as me hiding something. Look at it as me protecting someone."

Maya was still irritated, but his explanation had drawn her away from outright anger as she tried one more time, asking innocently, "Protecting who?"

He raised an eyebrow, not dignifying that with a response – and then the bell cut off whatever response he might have been inclined to give, calling them to class.

Lucas pulled himself the rest of the way together – or at least slipped on a convincing mask, Maya suspected – in all of point five seconds and took Riley's hand, the two of them leading the charge out into the hallway with Farkle behind them. Before she could follow Farkle, Zay's hand was on her arm again, and she looked up into regretful brown eyes.

"I probably shouldn't have brought it up at all; I'm sorry."

She shook her head, admitting, "I'm just glad to know there's someone out there to help him."

His smile was one of the more uncertain expressions she'd ever seen him wear when he requested, "Don't be mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you, idiot," she groused halfheartedly with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, I completely believe you," Zay snorted.

Her smile was small but genuine as she said, "I'm not. I get it. I don't have to like it, but I get it… and, despite the promises we made as a group at Topanga's yesterday, if you really think this will protect people… then I'll respect it."

"Thanks," he smiled back, his relief almost alarmingly palpable. "Now come on, our first class is Burgess, and we can't have _her_ getting upset at you."

"She likes me too much for that," Maya objected as they finally walked out of the closet.

"No, she likes you just enough _to_ keep you in line. And I _really_ don't think you want to get detention today of all days."

All ease dropped from Maya's face and the two of them flat out ran to English class.

* * *

"Okay, guys," Cory said brightly, looking out as his students as he began the class. "We're back at it – The War for Independence. Somebody remind me what we've already learned about it."

A few hands shot up instantly, and then he noticed the way Lucas raised his hand much more hesitantly. _Interesting._

"Lucas, tell us what you know."

"I know that I'm glad that there were people willing to fight the war, to start it, to take the first shot against all the odds and begin something that means freedom for all of us even now." He smiled, looking at Maya as he added, "They're heroes in my book." He swept all of his friends into his gaze as he said, "I'd hate to think of where we'd be without the soldiers who were willing to stand up and do anything they could to win the war. The army seemed small in comparison to who they were fighting, but they stuck together – and together, when we trust each other and take care of each other, we make each other stronger, braver, better." He turned back to Cory to announce, "That's what I've learned about the War for Independence, so far."

Cory nodded slowly, giving himself a second to think that through, because this time – unlike yesterday – he got what was _really_ being said.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Lucas's words were still ringing in Maya's ears as she and the others made their way directly to Topanga's after school. She, Zay, Lucas, Riley, Farkle, and Mr. Matthews were a pensive group as they made their way there, and she didn't think to be anything but grateful for the way that Zay kept steadily shoulder to shoulder with her the whole time. Similarly Farkle and Riley were flanking Lucas, and Matthews was behind them all, unnecessarily shepherding the five teens. But Maya found that she couldn't bring herself to care, not when it might just be something that made the man feel better himself – like he was keeping them safe for as long as he could from what was about to happen.

They were the last ones to arrive at the café, and Maya barely had time to stow her backpack behind the counter and shoot a smile at her mom – Katy and Auggie were staying at Topanga's while the others were at the courthouse – before she was flowing back out the door with everyone else.

Lucas must have really caught onto something in saying that they were stronger when they stayed together, Maya decided, because she noticed as they started out towards the subway that almost instantly everyone sorted themselves, almost subconsciously, into a little group within the group. They were there for each other, together and stronger for it, as they – again, in an almost subconscious way that spoke to just how close these people really were – bolstered each other for what they were getting ready to start.

Tommy and Topanga were behind Rachel, talking to her about the details of what was going to happen at the courthouse, Lucas was at his mom's side, holding her hand as they walked, and Jack was on her other side with an arm around her shoulders _._ He had been by her side already even at Topanga's, Maya had noticed, and he clearly wasn't about to change that now. Riley was holding Lucas's other hand, and Farkle had his arm looped around Riley's shoulders. Shawn, Cory, and Eric were walking in a nervous knot behind them, and – Zay. Where was Zay?

"You on earth with the rest of us, there, Maya?"

She smiled wanly, surprised when a little of the tension slid out of her shoulders at the sound of his voice behind her, and nodded distractedly as she continued to watch the others ahead of them. Where should she insert herself up there? She wanted to be doing something, helping to hold someone up too, but at the same time she was so tired of pretending to be strong in the middle of _everything_ that was going on. She wanted to help _and_ be helped – _but where…?_

That's when she noticed that Eric was separating himself from Shawn and Mr. Matthews, moving towards Jack's free side. Before she'd quite even registered what she was going to do, she darted past Eric and claimed her father's free hand for herself. Jack looked down at her in surprise, but managed to smile uncertainly when he saw who it was, giving her hand a squeeze. She smiled back at him, and that was that. She'd latched onto someone who needed bolstered – and who inexplicably left her feeling comforted in return.

Eric faded back to stand with Shawn and Mr. Matthews, and Maya looked over her shoulder at the three of them. Shawn caught her eye, his expression telling her that he noticed the connection with Jack, and then he winked, reminding her that it was okay, that he approved. She smiled, liking the knowledge that the three men were right over her left shoulder. So who did she hear walking behind her on her right?

Acting on another impulse, she reached her free hand back without looking – and instantly felt warm fingers tangle with hers. Zay was right there with her, just like he had been from the very beginning of this.

Even with the trepidation of what they were facing, Maya smiled, feeling something well up in her that might've just been comfort, but it felt an awful lot like courage, too, and wasn't that something? They were all here for each other. They were better when they were together and supporting each other, they were stronger like this, and walking between Jack and Zay, Maya decided that despite the collective concern and fear rippling through the group, she'd never felt more protected.

So she stayed between Jack and Zay the entire way to the courthouse – even on the subway, and that didn't change when they were in the actual courtroom.

Still the lot of them stayed in an almost identical arrangement across two benches. Farkle sat by Riley, who was holding Lucas's hand, who wasn't about to move from his mama's side. Jack was sitting between Rachel and Maya, and Zay was keeping a gentle hold on Maya's hand – so gentle that she could've dropped his hand at any time, but she had no intention of doing that. In the row behind them, Shawn was sitting behind Maya and Jack, Eric was beside him, and Tommy was beside him. Topanga was beside him, leaning over to give last minute advice to Rachel, and Cory was beside her, running his fingertips over the back of her hand.

 _Together. Together. Together. Stronger together. Braver together. Winning this together._

Then Mr. Friar slipped into the bench across from them, casting a withering glare at Rachel and Lucas as he did so. It was like a flash of collective, electric fury flared through half the people on their bench – and Maya saw that maybe the positions people had taken were more thought out than she had first suspected.

Lucas and Rachel both kept staring straight ahead, and Lucas's grip on Rachel's and Riley's hands became white-knuckle tight – whether from fury or fear Maya could only guess – and Jack instinctively tightened his arm around Rachel's shoulders. Riley jarred, like she'd been stopped halfway through leaping up – which she had, by Farkle's hand around her wrist and Cory's hand on her shoulder. Similarly, Shawn and Eric each put a hand on one of Jack's shoulders as his grip on Maya's hand became almost tight enough to grind her bones.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Maya flinched, running her fingertips over the inside of his hand to try and ground him – and maybe, hopefully, get him to loosen his grip and remember to breathe. He blinked at the sensation against his palm before relieving the pressure on her hand and inhaling slowly. He glanced at her, smiling grimly, apologetically, to let her know that he was back to himself. Then things were okay again – or at least as okay as they were going to be until Rachel and Lucas had those restraining orders.

So Maya took a breath and tried to relax – only for Zay to see that it wasn't working so well, so he started tracing those soothing circles on her arm. She smiled gratefully at him, and he scooted just a hair closer. She didn't know what was happening between the two of them, and right now she just didn't care. It was comforting and nice, and she liked it – whatever _it_ was.

 _Yeah_ , she mused again, leaning into Zay's touch. _Things are okay when we stick together._

* * *

It was a happy crew that emerged from the courthouse. Going into it as a group had helped them all, Jack knew, but it wasn't until Rachel and Lucas had been granted the restraining orders that they all became _happy_ and relieved. With the relief, apparently, came hunger, so the joyful dozen decided they would go to Topanga's café.

But not _every_ one of them seemed thrilled, Jack noticed. Lucas had shuffled Riley and Farkle off to Maya and Zay, and now he was lagging alone at the back of the crowd, looking troubled and clearly lost in thought. So Jack stepped away from Eric and Rachel, paused until he was abreast Lucas, and matched step with the boy.

"You okay?" he asked carefully.

"Of course," Lucas answered, doing a good job of lying and putting on a good face now that he knew he had been spotted.

"Of course you are," Jack parroted, although he was still pretty sure he didn't believe him. "Because now your dad can't come anywhere near you without getting into trouble."

"Physically maybe," Lucas muttered under his breath, so that Jack could barely hear the words.

Jack nodded solemnly. "Ah. I see."

"What do you see?" Lucas asked dryly.

Jack debat4ed whether or not he should answer honestly, but in the end he did. Sort of. "Are you having nightmares about him when you're sleeping, hearing his voice in your head when you're awake?"

Lucas looked at him in surprised alarm, and Jack inwardly cringed when he saw that he'd hit the nail on the head. They walked in silence for a minute before Lucas asked quietly, "Does it ever go away?"

"I don't know that it ever _goes away_ ," Jack admitted thoughtfully, stuffing his hands in his pocket as they strolled along behind the others. "When you start to feel safe again, the dreams will fade. The voice… that's harder, but if you're lucky, his voice will be replaced – replaced by people who love you, and want what's best for you, and who will remind you that there are good things about you."

Lucas still wouldn't look at him as he asked, "What about the memories?"

Jack blew out a deep breath before he admitted, "Those were the hardest… at least for me. Even though I may never forget them, I… moved past them years ago. Overcame them, may be the better word. And – again, if you're lucky – the bad memories of your life with your dad can be drowned out be good memories with other people. You're young still; this doesn't have to define you. This is only one part of your life, and it's starting to draw to a close now. It's up to you where you go from here, how much control you allow it to have. It can be difficult to heal from things like this, but healing _is_ possible."

"You know that for sure, huh?" Lucas asked, caution warring with something that might have been hope in his tone.

"I do," Jack answered solemnly. He glanced ahead, making sure that Shawn was leading the pack with Cory and Topanga before he elaborated, "I was four when my mom left my dad. Before that… life wasn't always great." He chuckled dryly at the understatement before he said, "Most of the time Dad was fine. He couldn't keep a decent job, had no idea how to raise a kid, was an unfaithful partner, but I was four, and Daddy was _fun_. Until he wasn't." Jack looked straight ahead for a second, running his tongue over his teeth before he continued, "When my mom was still with him, he drank," Jack swallowed, forcing the old words out. "And he made for an ugly, abusive drunk. I wasn't even in school yet; I didn't know what was really happening! All I know was that my mom made me go into my room and lock my door whenever Dad came home like that. I think she wanted to believe that the closed door would at least block out their yelling." He shrugged. "We all knew it never did." He glanced sideways at Lucas, debating again before he said a little painfully, "You asked about memories. I was young when my mom and I left Dad; I don't really remember much about life with him – I've never felt like I truly got to know him… but isn't it funny how bad memories are the ones that are hard to forget?"

Lucas nodded, but it seemed like he didn't want to risk derailing Jack's train of thought by speaking.

Jack nearly wished he would, but he didn't… so Jack plunged ahead. He ran a hand over his mouth, sighing as he let himself go back _there_. It was hard – it always had been – to let those things flood back over him, but what if this was how he could get through to this hurting kid?


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

The sights and sounds came back to him like it had happened yesterday as he began to speak again. "My very first memory, I was maybe three years old, locked in my room, like I said, because Dad had come home drunk. He'd walked in the front door of the apartment already yelling, and thought I couldn't see him, it sounded like he was staggering. He ran into a table or something, which made him angrier, so he swung at the vase on t. he table and it shattered. That vase had been my great-grandmother's; we were poor enough, and it was one of the few nice things we had. When Dad broke it, Mom… yelped, cried out, _made a noise_ … and Dad turned on her. She tried to get away from him, but he caught her right outside my bedroom. I freaked out, scrambled underneath my bed and just… stared at that door, crying and so scared I couldn't move. She was _right there_ on the other side of a pieces of plywood, I could hear every blow he landed, every sound she made, and _I did nothing_. What a great son I am, huh?"

Lucas looked at him, seeing Jack's point, but Jack could see in the teen's own eyes that he disagreed about something. And Lucas told him exactly what that was. "I get it, and I'm sorry you went through that – believe me, I really am – but you said yourself that you weren't even in school yet. I'm a year older than Maya; I could've done something for Mom, and I didn't."

"Because, the way your mom tells it, Mr. Friar had you _both_ pretty well trapped and afraid to speak up about what was happening. It took an outside force – Maya and the stroke of luck that was my timing – for Rachel to agree to leave him. None of what happened at your dad's hand is, or ever will be, your fault. It took time for me to realize that myself, but it's true. I don't care if you're four or fourteen or forty, Lucas, none of this is your fault, and you have to know that. Your _mom_ needs you to believe that." Jack eyed him, smiling just a little as he admitted, "I want you to believe that, and I barely even know you."

Lucas smiled back at him, and Jack was glad to see that he looked like he was starting to feel a little better. Maybe it had been worth it to bring up his own past after all. "Thanks, Mr. Hunter."

"You can call me Jack, if you want to," Jack offered. Then he offered a hand for Lucas to shake. "I might just like to get to know you better, Lucas."

Now Lucas really did smile fully as he accepted Jack's hand and pumped it firmly, answering, "I'd like that too, Jack."

* * *

Maya hadn't really meant to overhear the conversation that Jack and Lucas had been having, and she certainly hadn't wanted to hear what she had about Jack's formative years, but she'd heard it all anyway, and it weighed heavily on her for some reason. One more issue to add to the list.

And then there was the niggling suspicion that Jack had been the man Zay had been referencing earlier in the janitor's closet. Zay was a hacker who she was almost certain had looked into Jack's background; he had to have known something of what her father had been through, and he'd chosen not to tell her. She was already scared and tired and a million other well-repressed things; she didn't know if she could handle adding "mad at Zay" to that list. But part of her really, really wanted to.

She could practically feel her defenses, her walls, and her strength in general weakening after the exhausting day they'd all had, but she was still managing to hold herself together as the group boarded the subway, and she was glad for that, at least. She could break down later if she absolutely had to, once she was out of everyone else's way, once she was sure that Lucas and Rachel were okay after the taxing day.

She'd managed to grab hold of a pole, and now stood by herself, another thing that she was glad for. She was keeping a weak hold on her emotions at the moment, and if she was forced into conversation right now, she would run the risk of her mask slipping, and she couldn't let that happen, not when Rachel and Lucas still needed to be taken care of first. So she just gazed into the middle-distance, doing her best to clear her mind. All it did was exhaust her further.

Maya didn't see Riley come over until her best friend was standing right beside her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the brunette murmured teasingly in her ear, "See something you like?"

"Huh?" Maya asked, genuinely not understanding – and then blushing when she realized that her unfocused gaze had landed on Zay, where he was sitting alone on the seat Lucas usually claimed. Riley thought she'd been staring at him.

"You like him!" Riley squealed happily. Happy, even now in the middle of all of this, at the idea. "You do; I knew it!"

Face to face with one of Riley's sunshine moments, not even Maya could keep frowning without it being questioned, so she smiled and hoped that it was convincing enough to fool Riley – at least as long as her friend stayed distracted. But as suddenly as Riley had started squealing, she fell silent, and Maya froze, afraid the brunette had noticed something of her disquiet in her expression.

Riley was smiling, though, in a way that meant she had a plan for _something_ , and Maya got the impression she'd missed whatever it was. Then Riley cocked an eyebrow at her and gripped Maya's wrist, declaring, "I'm going to return a favor now."

"Wha-?" Maya yelped, realizing what her best friend meant only as Riley uncurled her hand from the pole, simultaneous with a lurch in the subway car, and Maya went stumbling backwards – falling straight onto Zay's lap.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"Hey there, pancakes," Zay grinned toothily as Riley gave Maya two thumbs up. "You missing me or something? 'Cause I gotta be honest; I thought this was kinda Riley and Lucas's thing."

"It was Riley's idea," Maya muttered, remembering how he'd held her before when she'd cried in his bedroom.

She could fall apart right here, with his arms around her, and she got the feeling he wouldn't mind at all. But she would mind; she was supposed to be mad at him, after all, wasn't she?

So she stiffened her spine, ignored the fact that he had wound his arms around her waist and she was still in his lap, and accused darkly, "You lied to me."

"I…" Zay's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What?"

Maya swallowed, forcing the words past her clenched teeth, "Jack. You didn't tell me what his dad did to his mom. You lied to me."

Zay sighed, understanding dawning in his eyes as he tried to explain cautiously, "I didn't lie to you, Maya, I just… didn't tell you."

She snorted, but she was too worn out from the events of the past days to even try to keep her mouth shut, not when she knew she could actually safely let loose on him. It was a stupid, horrible thing for her to do to him probably – especially since she wasn't sure _what_ she'd started feeling for him over the aforementioned past few days – but she just didn't care. "Do you know how tired I am of people _not telling me_ things?! No one told me Jack was my father, or that Kermit wasn't, or that Jack's dad did those things, or that Lucas and Rachel were being hurt. No one tells me anything, no one tells _anyone_ anything important! And now you're lying about things _the day after_ the five of made that promise to each other at Topanga's!"

Zay gripped her hands too tightly in a bid to get her attention, repeating in a fierce whisper, "I _did not lie_ to you, Maya, I was trying to protect you!" Seeing that she was going to give him a chance to explain further, he continued, "Sometimes when I hack into things, look into people's pasts like I did with Jack – don't look at me like you're all scandalized; Lucas asked me to, and you'd already figured I had, didn't you? Well, sometimes I come across things that people have tried hard to hide for a _good_ reason… and when that happens, I have to make a decision. Do I forget what the person wants and tell all of what I know, or do I keep part of it to myself and protect everyone involved? And that's the call that I made here. You don't have to like it, and I am sorry that you found out about it the way you did, but I can't change the decision that I made. I'm sorry if I hurt you because of it. Don't hate me, pancakes."

Maya smiled dryly, sighing tiredly as she relaxed and dropped her head wearily onto his narrow shoulder. "I don't hate you, dummy."

"Well," Zay hesitantly asked, "Does that mean I can give you my opinion on everything else in your little rant?"

"You're going to anyway, aren't you?"

She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Probably," and then he sobered, commenting, "I think that the reason your mom never told you about Mr. Hunter or – wait a second," he asked incredulously. "What did you say the other guy's name was?"

Maya looked down at the checked fabric of his shirt as she muttered under her breath, "Kermit."

"Kermit," Zay repeated in amusement, though to his credit he didn't laugh aloud – almost barely, but he didn't. "Anyway, I think your no one ever told you the truth about Mr. Hunter or Kermit for the same reason I didn't tell you what I found out. They wanted to protect you. That's why Lucas never told you what was going on behind the closed doors of his house, either – because Lucas Friar, god help him, wants to protect _everybody_ from getting hurt however he thinks he can do that. In this case, he and his mama decided that silence was their best option, so that's what they did."

"But it wasn't their best option!" Maya burst out.

"And I think _you_ got them to see that, and that's why we were at the courthouse today. But," he frowned a little, squeezed her shoulders just as gently. "See, that's the thing about sharing information. It's a lot of opinion regarding what's best for one person or another person, or… I dunno, all the people of an entire nation! You share what you think will help, and you hide what you think will harm. It's that simple."

She sat up straight again, all but snapping, "Why don't people with information just share what they know and then let the completely informed people decide whether or not they've been hurt?!"

He was being gentle again, and she fleetingly realized that throughout this whole thing, she'd not once scared him, regardless of her moods. He was laid back enough to just roll with it, and help her out of the grumpy, sad, or angry moments where he could. Like now.

Zay drew her head back down to his shoulder and started to draw those heavenly circles on her back as he answered softly, "Because we love you too much to hurt you if we can keep from it."

She froze, croaking, "What?"

"You heard me, Maya," he whispered, and his tone had dropped again, to something that wasn't just gentle, but downright tender.

Yeah, she had heard him – and it was the last straw. She wasn't angry anymore, but she was terrified, she was confused, she was trying to be brave, to put on a good face, she was… quite possibly falling for Isaiah Babineaux. She didn't know what to feel first, and Zay's quiet pronouncement, her own realization that she thought she returned those feelings, it was the last straw. She wiped fiercely at the first tear that dared to leak out of her eye, but still Zay caught the movement.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

"It's okay," Zay murmured near her ear. "Your hair's hiding your face. No stranger's going to notice if you cry. You've had a hard time recently; I'd say you deserve a good cry as much as anybody right now."

Maya shook her head fiercely. "No. Lucas and Rachel are the priority right now; we've already decided on that. Once they're fine, then, _maybe_ , I'll… do whatever I need to do."

"Whatever you need to do, it seems like you need it right now," Zay pointed out quietly. "And that's okay."

"No," Maya scrubbed fiercely at her eyes before more tears could fall. "No, it's not, because, I mean, look at all of this, Zay! I'm sitting here crying over, what, my dad, when I'm the lucky one compared to Lucas! I have a dad! Heck, I have three of them, depending on how you want to count it! And I want to cry over that while the one father that Lucas has does _that_ to him and his mom?! No, that's not okay. That's completely selfish of me, when he and Rachel are both so obviously hurting!"

"It's _okay_ for you to hurt too!" Zay insisted. "You have that right just as much as they do – and you _know_ that if the roles were reversed here, you'd be telling me or Lucas exactly what I'm telling you, wouldn't you?" Maya screwed her eyes closed, took a deep breath of air that smelt of Zay's fabric softener and cologne, and refused to answer the question that they both knew the answer to. "You are both very much allowed to have daddy issues," Zay murmured.

The patterns he was drawing on her back hadn't paused once, and she could almost feel the chinks he was causing in her already weak walls. One last time he whispered, "It's okay; you are allowed to feel."

She buried her face in the curve of his neck and cried. She still didn't want to, not really – she was so tired of how weak she'd felt since the argument with Katy that had snowballed into all of this – but they both knew she needed the purge. Again. Even if she did still think their problems were bigger than hers. Good grief, she irritated herself sometimes!

But there again was Zay, whispering a calming litany in her ear over and over while he just held her. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay."

And slowly she started to believe him, and as she did so, she found her tears drying out. She started to feel better. She started to think that maybe she could allow herself to _feel_ this hurt, to heal _herself_ even while she kept an eye on Lucas and Rachel and helped them where she could. It sounded like the perfect solution, and she trusted Zay just enough to believe that it could happen.

No. No, "trust" wasn't the right word, was it? She trusted Zay, yes… but she was pretty sure that in the middle of going through the events of the past days she'd started to love him. How had that happened?! And how did she feel about the fact that it had?

Hesitantly, Maya raised her head from Zay's shoulder, searching the boy's eyes, moving closer so slowly that she didn't realize she was doing it, not when she was close enough to breathe his air, not when she was so close that he took up her entire field of vision. Only when her eyes were closed and she was kissing him did she realize what she was doing. And how he was kissing her right back.

It was over suddenly, when she remembered something important and instantly drew back, glancing nervously towards where she'd left Riley. The brunette was still right there, now with Farkle and Lucas, and the trio was grinning approvingly at Maya and Zay. Zay groaned and Maya put her head back onto his shoulder with a delighted chuckle.

She certainly felt a lot better now, thinking contentedly that she'd managed to get _one_ thing figured out at least. Even if she didn't know how she felt about her parents – in whatever sense of the word someone wanted to take it – after that kiss, she didn't doubt that she liked Zay.

Lucas, Riley, and Farkle wandered over as one unit, and Zay asked cautiously, "I guess y'all saw that?"

"Every last bit of it," Lucas said with a grin. Apparently his talk with Jack had helped put him in a better state of mind, and Maya was glad to see it.

"It could be worse," Farkle pointed out helpfully. "One of the brothers Hunter could've seen."

Zay chuckled nervously when Jack chose that moment to come over and declare, "Oh, but one of them did. I didn't hear everything, but I saw it." Maya had expected him to pry about the boy whose lap she was on, but instead he asked, a line of concern showing in the space between his eyebrows, "Were you crying?"

Maya shrugged, and Riley asked the more important question, "Are you okay?"

"I am now," Maya assured them all.

"What were you talking about?" Riley asked, doubtlessly trying to figure out if there was a way for her to help so that Maya didn't get hurt again.

Maya didn't answer right away, so Zay volunteered, "Daddy issues."

But Riley was perceptive enough to see far more than what Zay had said. "She doesn't think she's allowed to have them, does she?"

Zay cocked his head at Riley, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he answered, "Well, don't you know that she's not allowed to fall apart while other people are hurting worse than she is?"

Irritation flashed through Riley's eyes, something undefinable flared in Lucas's gaze, and Jack pinched the bridge of his nose before he looked expectantly to the redhead who'd come up just in time to hear Zay's comment. Somehow it looked like he just _knew_ she was going to have something to say about that… and Rachel didn't disappoint.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

There was a small smile on Rachel's face as she mused, "So, she's hurting, but she doesn't want to break down because she needs to be strong for the people who are hurting 'worse' than she is, do I have that right?" Zay nodded, Jack muttered a nearly unintelligible, "I'm sure," and Rachel grinned like the Cheshire cat at him as she continued, "And you, Zay, put your arm around the Hunter that you like and told them that it was okay for them to cry, didn't you?"

"She needs to know that it's okay for her not to be 'fine' all the time," he answered.

"Oh, I absolutely agree," Rachel nodded with a grin. "And _then_ …" her smile actually did the impossible and widened. "Then Hunter looks at you with those big, teary eyes, and what are you to do but kiss away the tears?"

"Ra-" an exasperated Jack tried to object.

Rachel talked over him though, asking Zay, "That _is_ what happened, isn't it?"

Zay nodded, asking in confused curiosity, "Why?"

"Jack knows," Rachel said with a shrug, grinning at his discomfiture as she turned and went to talk to Topanga and Eric.

"What was that?" Lucas asked, looking between his mother and Jack in confusion.

"It was nothing, I don't think," Jack muttered, rolling his eyes a little. "She was trying to draw a parallel to something else that happened with…" he glanced over his shoulder at Rachel and trailed off. He didn't know what to think about whatever Rachel had brought up.

Riley turned pointed eyes back to Lucas, saying, "It looks to me like two people are falling in love." Jack nearly startled out of his skin, and Riley gave him a perfectly innocent look that Maya didn't buy for a second as she said, "Maya and Zay, I mean. Who else would we be talking about here?"

But neither she nor any of her friends were stupid, and at least the five kids knew who Riley was _really_ talking about, despite what she'd just said to poor Jack.

"We don't have time to 'fall in love' right now, Riles," Maya piped up. "Not with everything else that's going on. There are other things that a girl's got to adjust to first."

"But what about when all of 'this' is over?" Farkle asked thoughtfully. "What if we just… keep the proposition in mind while all of this is happening, keep an eye on what's going on, and then come back to it later, to reevaluate and see if the situation could use some attention from a group of schemers, daydreamers, and matchmakers?"

Lucas and Riley both looked a little surprised that Farkle had jumped onto the bandwagon so swiftly, but frankly, Maya wasn't. Farkle Minkus somehow managed to be a huge romantic at heart, and even though Maya herself wasn't, she saw potential between Jack and Rachel too. Just… not for right this instant. She'd meant it when she said that she thought Rachel would need time to adjust after the divorce.

Lucas added thoughtfully, "I do think it's pretty obvious that there's something between them."

Maya had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping then and there. That conversation between Jack and Lucas must've changed something in the other teen's opinion of her dad for him to trust Jack so much that he'd be willing to let him go out with his mom.

" _They_ are right here, guys," Jack spoke up obliviously, gesturing to Maya and Zay.

"We know that the people in question are right here," Riley promised him, fighting a smile.

Shawn came up then, saying exactly what Maya was thinking as he slung an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Oh, my sweet summer sunshine. You have no idea."

"About what?" Jack asked.

Shawn snorted in amusement. "Anything." He turned to the kids and asked, "You wouldn't happen to be working on another 'scheme-a de schemetada,' would you?"

"A _what_?" Jack asked.

Riley grinned, drawling, "Maybe…"

"But only for later," Lucas spoke up reassuringly. "I think we can all agree with Maya that the… _lady_ in this equation needs to get some things figured out for herself before she begins to look at a romance."

"At least on purpose, anyway," Riley finally agreed. "Now, how she acts with him before that – like she's doing right now – we aren't going to touch that. That's them being them all on their own."

"So when are we going to do this 'reevaluation'?" Zay asked.

They all considered the question for a second before Lucas suggested solemnly, "After the divorce is finalized. We said we want to wait until things are settled back down, and that's a way to know that they will be."

Maya looked around at the other four, looking for an objection. Not finding one, she asked, "So, bay window meeting the day the divorce is finalized? Just to see if we agree that it would be an idea worth pursuing, right?"

Her friends nodded, and seeing how confused Jack still looked, Shawn sighed and hit his forehead against his brother's shoulder a couple of times.

"Are you sure it's worth a… whatever a 'bay window meeting' is, just to see about a 'maybe' relationship?" Jack asked in confusion.

"It is when we care so much about the people involved," Lucas answered without missing a beat.

"Oh, _Jack_ ," Shawn sighed. "Don't you have any concept of childhood shenanigans? Schemes?"

"'Schemers, daydreamers, and matchmakers'?" Jack repeated what Farkle had said, still looking like he was trying to understand but not quite getting there.

"Exactly," Shawn said slowly as if he was talking to a small child. "And do you remember what I told about what good schemers and matchmakers these guys are? Remember what I told you they did for me and Katy? How they got a divorced single mother and a Hunter together, pretty well with ease?"

Finally Maya saw it hit Jack what the entire conversation had actually been about, but before anything else could be said, Zay pointed out a little too loudly, "This is our stop, let's get off!"


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

The five teens moved together off of the subway, devising their next step at a whisper as they went. When they were out of the station and onto the sidewalk, the last leg of their trip to Topanga's, Farkle and Riley started walking alongside Eric, Lucas and Zay went off to distract Rachel, and Maya went straight for Shawn and Jack. The brothers were shoulder to shoulder, and though she was glad to see them talking, she didn't want Shawn giving Jack too much information on what she and her friends were capable of just yet.

Shawn gave her a knowing side eye when she ambled up and wedged herself between the duo, looping an arm through one of each of theirs. Shawn chuckled, much harder to fool than his brother – at least for now.

"Yeah, okay," the photographer said with a fond smile. "I am going to let you two talk about… whatever."

Maya didn't let him go until she promised firmly, "We're not going to do anything right now, Shawn. Maybe I just want to talk."

"Okay," Shawn nodded. "I believe you; I know you guys will be smart about stuff. So if you wanna talk." He grinned fondly as he looked between her and Jack. "Yeah, I think you should." Then he loped off towards Cory.

Looking after Shawn and marveling at – but no longer as afraid of – his seemingly easy acceptance of the situation in which they'd found themselves, Maya told Jack, "You have an awesome brother."

"Don't I?" Jack agreed with a smile. He adjusted the way his and Maya's arms were looped together before his expression became serious again as he said, "Back on the subway, you guys weren't talking about you and Zay, were you?" Maya didn't know how to answer, so he pressed, "You all meant me and Rachel." Still she stayed silent, because that last bit hadn't been a question, but he asked, "What's the rest of your crew doing?" They could see Lucas and Zay animatedly going back and forth with Rachel, and were only barely out of easy hearing range of Eric, Riley, and Farkle. "No, wait, let me guess. Farkle and Riley are asking Eric for advice on how to proceed in your plans, and Lucas and Zay are on distraction detail with Rach." When Maya stayed silent, Jack took that as confirmation and winced before warning, "Look, I get that you guys like your schemes, okay? I do… but Rachel does not need to have to deal with something like that right now. I'm only here to support her however she – and Lucas, for that matter – needs me to. She needs to figure out what she wants on her own, because I think it's been a long while since she's felt like she's had choices of her own, for herself."

"I know," Maya told him. "You were there; that's what I said. I completely agree, which is why – also like was said – we aren't going to do anything, or even _look_ at doing anything – until after she's well away and done with her sleaze-ball husband. So you can relax and forget all about the whole conversation. It won't be relevant again for _literally_ months, and you have more important things to concern yourself with than a bunch of kids rambling about _love_."

Jack grinned at her terminology of the "sleaze-ball husband" and let the conversation drop. "Okay, ramble about yourself then."

"What?"

"Tell me about Maya Hart. I want to know everything. Do you like school? What's your favorite class? Who's your favorite teacher? What do you like to do during your free time? Do you have any hobbies?"

"Jack!" Maya burst out with a laugh. "Slow down!"

"Why? I have fourteen years to catch up on, don't we?"

Maya gave him a skeptical glance as she went back over the questions that he'd shot at her. "Do I _like_ school? No, not really, not as a whole, but it has enough okay parts to keep it from being completely awful. Matthews and our English teacher keep their classes decent… not… snooze-worthy."

"Oh, yeah?" Jack grinned. "Who's your English teacher?"

"Harper Lee Burgess. She's my favorite teacher," she pressed her finger to her lips, whispering theatrically, "Don't tell Matthews." Jack drew a quick _X_ over his chest, and Maya told him, "It's a pretty obvious choice for a favorite teacher, I think. She rides a motorcycle, wears a leather jacket to school, and taught us _Batman vs. Superman_ comic books her first week there!"

"Sounds like somebody who used to teach Shawn, Cory, and Topanga."

"So we were told."

"Do you have a favorite class?"

Maya didn't even have to think before she answered, "Art."

"Huh. You any good?" Jack asked curiously.

"It's the one class I have an A+ average in," Maya shrugged.

"You _are_ good then."

Again Maya shrugged. "It's easier to put effort into things that you enjoy anyway. You asked if I had a hobby; I'd say my art. I like drawing, especially, in my free time. It helps me relax, and sometimes… see the world in a way that isn't quite so dark."

Jack nodded, thinking that through before he decided to let her last comment drop and said instead, "I'd like to see some of it sometimes, if you'd let me."

Maya gnawed on her lip, not sure what to say or how to explain what she was thinking. It made her nervous to show her drawings to someone who didn't draw themselves – at least outside of her mom – because she was afraid that they wouldn't be able to see what the renderings meant to her, wouldn't be able to see whatever it was that she wanted to get across in that particular piece. In the end she settled for an uncertain, "I don't know; I usually keep the stuff I draw outside of art class pretty private.

"Ah," Jack nodded acceptingly. And then came the magic words, "I understand that."


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

"You do?" Maya asked Jack skeptically.

He nodded, answering firmly, "I do."

It was one thing to say you understood, Maya knew, and quite another to _actually_ understand. So she asked simply, "How?"

"I drew for a little bit. After the seven of us graduated college, Rachel and I went into the Peace Corps together, and before we left on our first trip, I gave in to an impulse buy and bought this sketchbook at the airport during the start of a ridiculously long layover. We were sitting there in the airport, and I was bored, so I just bummed a pen out of her purse off of Rachel and started drawing." He shrugged. "I didn't really stop until I left the Corps... but I never showed anyone what I drew either. Well, maybe my mom," he corrected thoughtfully, "But beyond that, nobody. There's a whole section of my life recorded in pen and colored pencil sketches that next to nobody ever saw, and the sketchbook itself is probably buried somewhere in a box in a closet. To be honest, I'd kind of forgotten about it until now – and I was pretty good, if I can say so myself."

"Then I'm blaming my artistic streak on you," Maya declared.

"We can draw, Shawn has his photography and poetry – I'd say that's a pretty safe place to put the blame."

"If both of you boys have the artsy gene, it must've come from Chet, huh?" Maya realized.

Jack seemed surprised at the idea, like he hadn't considered that before now, but in the end he smiled and murmured, "Yeah, I guess it must have." Then he must've thought of something else, because he looked over at her with an idea sparking in his eyes and suggested, "I'll make you a deal. If you show me some of your drawings, I'll dig up my sketchbook to show you."

"Okay," Maya agreed. "Deal." Then she asked, "Why did you stop drawing?"

Jack gnawed on the inside of his cheek for a second, considering that before he answered, "I guess I just lost my inspiration, and my desire to draw went with it. It's hard to draw if you don't have something in mind that you want to see on the paper."

"Did you leave your inspiration with the Peace Corps?"

"Something like that, I guess. Rachel and I had been going to all of these other places – Europe, South America, Africa, and Mexico – and I guess when I got back to the States, nothing really caught my eye anymore."

"I think you should try drawing again sometime, especially if it's something you're good at. And I mean, really, you're in New York City; there's a million things to be inspired by every day!"

"Well," Jack smiled – she must've amused him. "Where would you suggest I start?"

"Go for a walk or onto a fire escape at five-thirty in the evening," Maya answered without missing a beat. "The world turns golden, like magic in the middle of a concrete jungle. If you can't find something to draw then, there's no hope for you."

"'Magic in the middle of a concrete jungle,'" Jack mused. "Maybe I'll take your advice one of these days when I can find some time."

Maya smiled, satisfied with the answer as being the best one she was going to get, and strolled along beside her father – until Topanga's came into sight. Then she darted ahead, realizing that she was actually excited to show Jack her sketchbook. She took just enough time to throw her arms around Katy with a quick "hi, Mom," and then grabbed her sketchpad from her backpack, slipping onto a barstool at the counter.

Shawn was the next one to enter the café, kissing Katy before he glanced at Maya, seeing the way her eyes were dancing as she flipped through the drawings in her sketchbook. He put his fingertips on the edge of the paper and tugged, asking casually, "Can I see one of those drawings? You've never shown me any."

Maya jumped, instinctively flipping the precious book closed and pulling it to her chest. She and Shawn were both artistic enough that they'd talked before about her drawings and his photography, and they'd been good, enjoyable conversations, maybe it could even be called a bonding point for them... but they disagreed. Shawn didn't understand why someone would take so much more time to recreate something in a drawing when they could simply snap a photo of that thing exactly as it was in the moment. But for Maya that was exactly the point. A photo showed how something _looked_ ; her drawings could show how _she saw_ the world.

It wasn't so much that she _minded_ the idea of showing Shawn her drawings – she didn't, not really, now that she thought about it – but she was pretty sure that Jack would be able to appreciate them more. And, honestly, after the conversation that she and Jack had just had, she simply wanted him to see the drawings first. It wasn't a big deal, actually – but it was a big deal _to her_ , and she was afraid of hurting Shawn if she told him that.

But before she could even begin to decide what to do, Jack came up to them and asked her obliviously, "What are you going to show me, artist?"

Maya's grip on the book tightened as she looked silently between the two brothers. "Um, I… It… I don't know if…"

She couldn't show Jack without Shawn seeing, and she didn't know if she was ready to face possible sensor from Shawn, and Shawn had to know now that she'd been planning on showing Jack, and she'd made a deal with Jack, and-

"Maya."

Maya drew in a deep breath, snapping out of it as she looked down at the hand on her arm, her gaze trailing from the hand, up the arm, and to her mom's familiar face, to the huge brown eyes filled with understanding as she looked at her daughter from the other side of the counter. Katy knew her daughter was secretive with most of her drawings, and she even understood why. Well, she didn't _understand_ it the way Jack did, but she respected it, and she had to have guessed something of what the situation was here.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Katy asked her daughter quietly, "Would you mind if I showed them my favorite of your drawings?"

She was being offered an easy way out here, Maya realized. She could tell her mom "no," say she'd changed her mind about showing anybody anything, and walk away. But she didn't want to do that. She _wanted_ to share this thing with her father… but wasn't Shawn also a father to her? And hadn't things in the past proved that Katy had always managed to reign Shawn in, in the past. Her mother wouldn't let Shawn rake her drawings – not when she was actually showing him something and seeking his approval on it. But was that what she wanted, either? Didn't she want honest opinions? Hadn't she ranted to Zay less than an hour ago about honesty?

She wanted to scream… but in the end, she took a deep breath and wordlessly handed the sketchbook to Katy, hoping against hope that this didn't blow up in her face. Katy smiled encouragingly at her before she laid the sketchbook down on the counter, flipping through it until she found a certain page. Then she turned the sketchpad back around so that it was facing Maya and the brothers.

Despite herself, Maya smiled. She should've known. The portrait her mom had chosen was a shaded black and white drawing of Katy and Shawn. The man had shown up as a surprise for Katy on her birthday, and the waitress/actress had thrown her arms around him before he could even get through their apartment door, freely laughing at whatever cheesy line he'd thrown at her as he walked in. That was the moment that Maya had captured in her mind and drawn later, as a close-up of the two faces. It had taken her days to perfect that drawing, and she still liked the picture almost as much as Katy did.

"Wow, Maya," Jack murmured.

Shawn whistled, declaring, "If you'd shown me this earlier, I may not have given you such a hard time about photos being better." He grinned at her, teasing, "They're still better, of course, but…" he looked back down at the drawing. "What Jack said. 'Wow, Maya.' How am I supposed to have a problem with drawings that?"

"You're not," Katy answered cheerfully, and Maya could've hugged her mother then and there because she had _absolutely_ known that would be Shawn's reaction.

"You have a real talent here, kiddo," Shawn praised.

Maya jumped off of her barstool, hugging him as she muttered against his shirt, "Thanks, Shawn."

"Thank you for showing me," Shawn replied into her hair, and somehow there was an apology woven into the words as he'd apparently realized why she'd freaked out a minute ago.

Maya smiled up at him, repositioning herself so that she could stand with one arm around Shawn and the other around Jack.

"He's right, you know," Jack told her. "You're really good at this." He looked at her cautiously, waving a timid hand at the sketchpad. "Do you mind if I…"

And suddenly she didn't mind. If… _all three_ – wow, okay, she had three parents now – liked what she did, then she didn't care at all if they saw more, enjoyed seeing more of what she enjoyed drawing. So she nodded, staying snugly between the two brothers as they looked at the other drawings, most of them portraits.

There was a couple sketches of Katy, a couple of Shawn, a caricature of Cory and Shawn, three more of Katy and Shawn, a pencil sketch of Topanga, one of Farkle from his turtleneck days, a portrait of Zay, an impressionistic portrait of Riley and Lucas, a duo-tone of Farkle and Smackle. There was even one of Lucas where she'd used only the colors red, white, and blue. Interspersed throughout, there was almost a dozen of Riley, since she was Maya's base for technique experimentation. The last one in the book was a group portrait of her four closest friends as they looked when they all sat in Topanga's.

That was the one Shawn pointed to as he indicated to the empty space in the drawing where Maya knew she herself should be – on the window seat beside Riley – and asked, "Why aren't you in any of these?"

Maya hissed air in through her teeth, admitting, "I can't. You know how they say you wouldn't recognize yourself if you saw yourself because your perception of what you look like is skewed? I guess it's true, because I can never draw myself to my own satisfaction. I guess it's like Mom says about acting – too close to see myself straight."

"You know, Maya," Jack spoke up slowly. "You wanted me to try drawing again. If you want, I could try drawing you into one of these?"

"I wouldn't mind that."

"But which one?" Katy asked, flipping with Maya back through the portraits.

Jack stopped them on one of the colored pencil drawings of Shawn and Katy, suggesting, "How about this one?"

It was the easiest one to insert someone into, Maya could tell instantly. Katy and Shawn had an arm around each other's shoulders already, and she could see right away where she would fit into the space between them, maybe with an arm around each of them like she was standing right now between the Hunter brothers.

"That way it's a full family portrait," Jack said kindly, squeezing Maya's shoulders gently

"You're a part of her family too now," Shawn reminded Jack. "Poor you," he sighed dramatically at Maya. "Being stuck with _both_ of us."

"That's okay," Maya grinned at Shawn. "At least I have Mom to help keep _you_ contained."

Shawn shrugged, declaring, "She's cute when she tries," then he grinned over at Katy, tacking on, "But then, she's cite any moment of any day, really."

"Yeah, I am," Katy agreed cheekily, rounding the counter to squeeze in between Maya and Shawn.

Then suddenly Shawn was pulling Jack towards him into a four-way hug. Jack stumbled a bit with the unexpected movement, but Shawn and Maya kept him upright and pulled him in even tighter while Katy chuckled in amusement at the lot of them. It was an infectious sound amongst the four of them, and right there in the middle of their impromptu hug, Maya found herself laughing as hard now as she had been crying on the subway.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Maybe Maya was losing her mind, but she thought it was more likely that she was finally settling down, if just a little, into the idea of having both of these men as her father. Because this hug, this silliness, was what being with your family was supposed to feel like, and haphazard and strange as it was, these three people were now her closest family members.

Already the four of them had run into some tough stuff – were still in the middle of that stuff – but they were still fighting for each other, were here for each other now, and even if the hard times kept coming, they would face it as the family she'd never thought she'd find but now had. And wonderful and scary as that thought was, it was more than enough for Maya.

* * *

 _Three weeks later_

By the end of the week, everyone who'd come in to help and support Rachel and Lucas had gone back to their own homes. Jack had been the last to go, with a promise to keep in touch with Rachel, Lucas, and Maya all three. It was a promise he'd made good on, making a call to each household every night since he'd left, and life had settled down once again.

Rachel and her husband had managed to settle the terms of their divorce out of court, thanks to Mr. Friar's desperation to keep the whole ordeal out of the public eye, and now it was just a matter of getting the proper papers drawn up and signed. The man had even agreed to dissolve all of his parental rights to Lucas, provided that no one pressed charges against him for the abuse he'd doled out. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was as near to one as could be managed without further stress on Rachel and Lucas, and Topanga swore that if she could keep pushing things forwards at this rate, the divorce would be finalized in a little over five weeks from now.

But one thing that Lucas and Riley had noticed had yet to be officially settled was whatever was going on between Zay and Maya. They had drawn closer, there was no doubt about that, but no one knew for sure _what_ they were at this point… and Lucas was beginning to wonder if that might just include Maya and Zay.

So he waited for Zay at the other boy's locker of a Monday morning.

That wasn't in and of itself an unusual thing, per se, but he and Zay had been friends too long for the other boy not to know that something was up when he saw Lucas's face. So Zay cut to the chase and asked outright as he shoved books into his locker, "Can I help you?"

"I think maybe you need to help yourself here, Zay," Lucas answered evenly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zay asked, eyebrows shooting upward.

"Maya, Zay," Lucas replied pointedly. "What's the deal between you two? On one hand, if there is something between you two, why not get it out into the open? And on the _other_ hand, if there isn't anything there, you have to know that it was wrong to kiss her on that subway."

"I know all of that," Zay assured him as he shut his locker. "And I wouldn't just randomly kiss her – _you_ know me well enough to know that."

"Then _what's_ going on, Zay? Trust me when I say that leaving something like this undefined will get you nowhere. Riley and I tried that, and it didn't work. I really doubt it will with you and Maya either. Take this from your very well-meaning best friend, okay? You need to talk to Maya and figure out what this is between you guys."

Zay just stared at him for a beat, biting his lip before he nodded and said firmly, "Okay, I will."

"Today?" Lucas double-checked.

Zay took a deep breath, repeating, "Today."

* * *

For Zay to walk home with Maya wasn't a strange occurrence anymore – they'd started taking the same route once they realized they lived in the same building – but when it happened, it was exactly that. It _happened_. For Zay to stop by her locker and ask if he could walk her home, though… that hadn't happened until today, and now Maya felt unaccountably nervous as he met her on the school steps.

The air felt different between them than today, like Zay had something weighing on his mind and didn't know what to do about it.

After they'd walked in silence for a while – for once it didn't feel companionable, just anticipatory – Maya said something instead. They were well outside of school grounds before she asked, "What is it, Zay? I think we've already realized we can talk to each other."

"And I don't want to change that," he said, and there was something nervous in his tone.

She looked at him sideways, asking slowly, "Okay… what do you want to change?"

He looked at her, swallowing before he said, "You know we have to talk about it, right?"

She didn't have to ask what "it" he meant – the kiss and what it entailed was the only "it" left between them – and her heartbeat kicked up a notch. "Oh," she murmured, trying not to let herself get her hopes up.

"'Oh'?" he repeated, sounding that much more nervous. "Good 'oh' or bad 'oh'?"

Maya paused, opened her mouth, closed it again, and then asked, "What do you want it to be?"

"I want you to do what you want me to do," he hedged.

"Zay, don't hide things from me, don't dance around this; you're the one who brought it up, so tell me what you want to do about it!"

"I want..." he huffed. "I want to always be able to talk to you, to tell you things, and for you to keep coming to me whenever you need to talk to someone. I want… I want for you to let me… h-hold you again. I want you to feel safe with me, I want – I want to kiss you again." He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, turning so that he was standing in front of her, and when she nearly ran into him, he simply wound his arms around her waist to steady her, staring down at her as he said firmly, "Maya Hart, I think I want to love you!"


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

She grinned widely up at him, heart soaring as she answered cheekily, "Funny, because it sounds like you already love me."

"Yeah," Zay murmured. "I guess I do."

"Good," Maya answered softly. "Because I _know_ I love you."

"I am so glad to hear it," Zay breathed in a rush of relief.

Maya laughed, going on tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. "Do you still want that kiss?" Zay grinned and leaned forward expectantly. "On one condition," Maya teased.

"Shoulda seen that coming," Zay groaned.

"No more calling me 'Pancakes.'"

Zay jokingly grimaced before he grinned, agreeing readily, "Yes, ma'am. Now kiss?"

Maya snorted. "Now kiss."

And kiss they did.

Zay pulled away with a smile, asking, "So when Lucas asks me how this went, do I get to tell him that I officially have a girlfriend now?"

"Lucas?" Maya repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, he may have given me a best-friend shove into, you know, addressing the, ah, subway."

"You mean the subway _kiss_?" Maya grinned.

"Yeah, that."

Hm. Good for Lucas; I'll have to thank him later." Her smile widened and she demanded, "Now kiss."

* * *

By Friday evening, Jack was convinced that this just wasn't going to work. Something had to change. Something _else_ had to change, that was, because one thing had definitely already changed when he'd gone to New York City. Now that he'd spent time with them, he didn't like being so far apart from Maya and Rachel. He wanted to relocate, move back to NYC, and he knew exactly where he wanted to start his search for a place to live.

* * *

Cory was surprised when he saw Jack's name flash on his cell phone screen Friday evening. He was even more surprised by the first question Jack asked him.

"Is that apartment above you guys still available?"

"Yeah," Cory answered slowly. "The last residents moved out six weeks ago; I mentioned that to Shawn when you guys were here. Hey," he felt a grin start to grow on his face as he began to understand what Jack was after. "Weren't you with us when I brought it up?"

"I was." Jack verified. "Do you think that you could talk to the landlord for me? I'd like to move to the city as soon as is humanly possible to be closer to Maya and R- really, I think being in your building would be the best possible way to do that."

"Uh-huh," Cory caught the slip up even over the phone, but he didn't comment on it. "You know what, if I phone him now, I might be able to get ahold of him before he goes off the clock for the weekend."

"I would love to be able to get in there this week! Do you think we could make that happen?"

"We can certainly try," Cory asked, shaking his head at just how exuberant Jack was about the improbable idea.

Thanks, man, you're awesome!"

Cory chuckled. "I try. And so does Topanga," he mused quietly. Because, yeah, the idea of him helping Jack get into the apartment within a week was an improbable one – if he did it. But if Topanga called the landlord, than maybe they stood a chance…

Half an hour later, Topanga hung up from their landlord with a smile on her face. "He's in."

Cory grinned right back at her, thinking through an idea before he asked, "What would you think if I rallied some troops and got Jack over here this weekend on the sly?"

"You at least have to call Jack and tell him that he got the apartment first," Topanga pointed out.

"Yeah, sure. You call Jack and tell him he got the apartment – but trust me, we won't even have to suggest moving him over this weekend; he'll already be in the process when we show up. That is a man desperate to be near his family."

Topanga shot him an exasperated look that he managed to ignore, giving her the puppy dog eyes until he relented with an indulgent smile. "Okay, fine. You can surprise him with a small army of weekend warrior movers. And am I correct in thinking that – since you're in the mood to surprise people – you won't want to tell Maya either?"

"I love the way you think," Cory gushed. "But we should keep it from Rachel and Lucas, too, just to see what they do when he shows up!"

"Whatever you want to do, but this is all your idea!" Topanga declared, even though Cory could tell that the little plan was starting to grow on her. "I'll call Jack, you call whoever you want to rally, and let's get this done!"

* * *

Saturday morning's earliest sensible hour – as Farkle was very loudly complaining – saw Cory driving a fifteen passenger van into the driveway of Jack's house. Cory climbed out, and Shawn, Katy, Farkle, Zay, and Riley followed him out of the van and up to Jack's door.

As he'd expected, Cory saw that the beginning of packing was underway when Jack answered the door with shock written all over his face.

"We're here to help you pack!" Cory declared brightly. "Put us to work!"

* * *

Jack got another surprise when Eric and Tommy showed up a half an hour later – since Cory had called them too – and set to work alongside everyone else. Tommy and Jack ended up in the kitchen together, packing up dishware.

"How's Maya been?" Tommy asked curiously.

"Good, I think," Jack answered thoughtfully, "But I haven't seen her in person since we were all there. I've called every night. She's a neat kid to get to know if you can get past her walls."

"Have you – gotten past her walls, that is?"

Jack thought again before he answered solemnly, "I think I'm getting there, yeah. I'm not, you know, 'Dad' by name yet, but I'm something important to her, I think. I've kind of just left it unspoken that it's up to her to decide what she wants me to be, and I'm hoping for the best and taking what I get in the meantime."

"Kind of like what she has with Shawn, then?"

Jack looked at him sidelong – probably trying to figure out how he knew that, Tommy realized with an internal cringe – before he answered, "Yeah. She seems comfortable with relationships like that."


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

 _Because giving it no definition is a way of keeping you at arm's length, therefor keeping herself from getting potentially hurt_. Tommy didn't say what he was thinking, changing the subject instead to ask, "Do you know how she and Shawn are doing?"

Jack shrugged as the two of them kept wrapping dishes in newspaper and putting them in boxes. "From what I've heard, it doesn't seem like anything's changed between them, even with everything that's gone on."

"But that's a good thing, right?"

"I take it as one, everything considered – including how afraid she was for that little bit that Shawn was going to leave her and Katy."

"Who's am I leaving?" Shawn asked curiously as he wandered in from the living room on the way to the moving van with a lamp in his hands.

"The Hunters are leaving their Matthews boyfriends," Tommy teased without missing a beat.

"They're not our boyfriends!" Jack and Shawn chorused loudly.

Their objection was the only thing Katy could've overheard from where she was working in the living room, but she called cheerfully into the kitchen, "Yes, they are!"

"No, they're not!" Shawn cried back.

"Yes, they are," Katy caroled, passing through the kitchen with a box in her hands. "But it's okay, honey, I love you anyway."

"And I love you," Shawn grinned.

"I know you do!" she called behind her, disappearing out the door as she went to the U-Haul.

Smiling at his brother's goofy expression, Jack told Shawn, "She really means that, you know. I don't know if I could've been as big a man about this as you've been."

Shawn shrugged dismissively. "I don't really see what the big deal is."

"You do to see it," Tommy objected.

"Okay, I see it," Shawn allowed. "But I don't care. I love them, so I stayed in their lives – Katy's and Maya's – because I want to continue loving them. Where's the big deal in that?"

"The big deal is that you're a really great guy, Shawn," Jack said, pausing in his packing to throw an arm around his little brother's shoulders. "They're lucky to have you around."

"Maya likes having you around too, you know," Shawn told Jack, saying exactly what Tommy had been thinking.

"So, we're lucky to have them, they're lucky to have us to put up with, and everybody's happy?" Tommy asked, looking up at them from where he was crouched in front of a cardboard box.

"Exactly," Jack grinned, moving to hand Tommy a stack of plates.

"Is it going to stay that way?" Tommy asked, a line of worry appearing between his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" Shawn asked, abandoning the lamp he'd been carrying to wrap a set of glasses in newspaper.

"You guys aren't going to let this get to you later, are you?" Tommy clarified his question.

Jack and Shawn looked at each other and Shawn answered, "If we didn't manage to kill each other while we were living at Pennbrook, I really doubt we're ever going to be able to."

"Good," Tommy nodded, taking as good of an answer he could get, and accepted the glass Shawn held out. "Because you've got a lot of people – even me, and I don't know you very well – rooting for you guys on this, and I got the impression that Maya really wants you both to stay in her life."

Jack shrugged, answering easily, "So we'll stay."

"Simple as that," Shawn seconded.

And somehow Tommy thought they might actually manage to make it as "simple as that." So he smiled, feeling reassured for Maya's sake. "Good."

* * *

Topanga had called Maya Sunday morning and asked her to come to their apartment building. A block away from there, she ran into Lucas and Rachel, who had received a similar call and were going the same place.

"Did she tell _you_ why she wanted you to come over?" Maya asked mother and son curiously. "Because she told me nothing."

They shook their heads and Rachel answered, "I just assumed it was something about the divorce… but she asked you to come too?"

Maya nodded, and they spent the rest of the walk brainstorming. But her mouth dropped open when she saw what was happening, who was unpacking a U-Haul outside the Matthews' apartment building. The whole crew was there, including Eric and Tommy and… standing outside the U-Haul, dragging a box toward him – Maya broke into a run at the sight of him, breathing happily, "Dad!"

She was so excited to see him that she didn't even register the word as it came out of her mouth, but Lucas did, and he arched an eyebrow as she ran forward and threw her arms around her father's waist. Surprised at the assault from behind, Jack dropped the box back down into the U-Haul with a thud, managing to twist around so that he could return the fierce hug.

"Hey, Angel Eyes," he grinned. "Happy to see me?" Maya nodded against his shoulder and his grin widened, "Good. Because I'm hoping it'll happen a lot more."

That's when it registered what was actually happening here – what the U-Haul's presence could mean. She pulled back just enough to look at his as she asked, "You're moving to the city?"

"To the apartment right above Cory and Topanga's," he verified, and she was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to smile any wider than what he already was. "Is that alright by you?"

"Absolutely!" Maya answered, moving around him to grab a box and haul it up to the apartment.

When the back of the U-Haul was cleared out, the adults went inside to start unpacking the boxes, and the kids stayed outside a second longer to clear out the odds and ends that had ended up in the cab of the truck. Zay and Farkle got into the cab, and the other three kids waited outside it, holding whatever they'd already stumbled upon.

"I think it's amazing that he moved all the way across the state for you, Maya!" Riley gushed.

Maya snorted. "Oh, honey, do you really think it was just for me?!"

"You played the biggest part in it, I think," Lucas told Maya, but they both knew what the other was thinking. Rachel was in this city too.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

"But she definitely wasn't the only reason," Zay said, rounding the front of the truck and looking at his girlfriend. "Sorry, sweetheart."

Maya shrugged, truly not caring. She was just glad that he was here.

"What makes you say that?" Lucas asked Zay.

Zay looked at Farkle as the other boy climbed down out of the truck and said, "This."

The genius held up what Maya instantly recognized as an old sketchbook. But Lucas was the first one to recognize the portrait on the page, and he took the book from Farkle, muttering, "This is of Mom."

"It was already opened to that page, just sitting there on the dashboard," Farkle said. "I guess he wanted to make sure he knew where it was. I don't know what that looks like to you, but it looks to me like somebody was in love once upon a time."

"I think it's pretty obvious that they still like each other even now," Riley said, and a glance at each of the kids proved that they agreed.

But Lucas wasn't listening, instead staring down at the drawing in something like awe.

"What is it?" Riley asked him, laying a hand on his arm.

He murmured, "She looks so happy here."

It was true, Maya noted, peeking around Riley to get a closer look at the picture. But it wasn't that she _just_ happy… Jack had drawn the picture of Rachel straight on, in full color so that she was smiling right at whoever looked at the drawing. She was depicted with a sheer purple niqab across the lower half of her face, and she was looking out with _love_ in her gaze, smile wide and eyes dancing with an expression of pure joy that Maya herself had yet to see Rachel wear. She could tell at a glance that this was one of those moments that Jack had been in himself and wanted to capture on paper. She didn't blame him in the least; the drawing was beautiful. But it wasn't beautiful _just_ because the moment itself, or even Rachel's expression, was breathtaking, but because the artist himself had drawn the portrait with such unmistakable love.

Jack Hunter and Rachel McGuire had definitely been in love at one time… and Maya was inclined to believe that they still were even after all these years.

"Guys, look at this though," Farkle said, suddenly reaching around Lucas to flip through the pages.

Though there were a few portraits of natives from one country or another – India, Mexico, Brazil – most of the drawings were of Rachel.

Zay shook his head when they came to the first blank page that meant they'd reached the end of Jack's drawings. "This guy had it bad, didn't he?"

"He still does," Maya said with a grin. "He just…" her eyebrows drew together as she tried to find the way to word it. "He's mature enough to realize that there's a time and a place for everything, and now is far from the time to be pursuing something with her."

"She is _technically_ still married," Farkle pointed out with a wince.

"That's why we have the bay window meeting scheduled for when we do, right?" Riley reminded them all brightly. "I mean, the way they've faced this as a group so far, we've got to assume that there's going to be some sort of get-together the day the divorce is finalized."

Lucas added happily, "And _that's_ when we're rallying the five of us back together to see if we think there's anything between them."

"You guys," Zay asked a little dryly, "I know I haven't been involved in one of this groups _big_ schemes yet like this, but… are we even going to be needed to help this one along, or do we just need to step back and let life happen, because it looks to me," he pointed towards the sketchpad in Lucas's hand, "Like they could do this on their own."

"That's part of what the bay window meeting will be about," Riley assured him. "But so far I'd have to say…" she looked around for agreement or disagreement from the other four. "So far so good?"

A chorus of agreements and smiles met the question, and Maya couldn't help letting a grin settle onto her own face. "Yeah," she murmured, moving with the others as they started back towards the apartment building while her mind wandered back over everything that had happened since she'd gotten into that argument with her mother almost a month ago. "So far so good."

* * *

Hours later, after the day of arranging things in Jack's conveniently pre-furbished apartment, the group had seemed loathed to separate again just yet, so they'd ended up eating supper together in the apartment, sitting on chairs and boxes and the floor with pizza-filled paper plates in their laps.

When the two of them had finished eating, Lucas caught Maya's eye and slanted his eyes towards an out-of-the-way corner of the room. Frowning, she obliged him, standing from the cardboard box where she'd been sitting between Jack and Zay. Lucas nudged two more boxes into the empty corner and sat on one, gesturing for Maya to take the other.

She raised her eyebrow, but did as he'd asked before she demanded, "What's up, Huckleberry?"

Lucas leaned forward so that he could all but whisper the words to her as he asked with a small smile playing at the edges of his mouth, "I'm just curious – do you even realize what you called Jack when you saw him this morning?"

Maya tried hard to keep her expression neutral because, yes, thank you very much, she'd realized halfway thought the day what she'd called him, but she'd thought she'd gotten lucky and no one had heard her. Apparently someone had, and now Lucas wanted to discuss it. But she just didn't think she was ready for that.

So she said, "I don't know. Nothing special – I would assume I said, you know, _his_ _name_."


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

"You'd think, wouldn't you?" Lucas answered. "But you didn't. You got so excited to see him that you froze for a second before you ran to him, and I heard you call him 'Dad.'"

"I did not," Maya scoffed.

"You did," Lucas insisted, staying gentle about her argument for now because he realized that it was a sometimes tender topic for her. "And why wouldn't you? He _is_ your dad! Jack is a genuinely good guy! He loves you, you love him, and there's no reason for you _not_ to call him 'Dad!'"

"Lucas, I didn't!"

"You did too, Maya."

"I didn't – and if I had, it was only once, probably because I was so excited it was practically on accident! _If_ I'd called him 'Dad,' in the middle of being excited and having him around and whatever, it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to admit that I called him that because it doesn't matter!"

Lucas stared at her silence, and only then did she realize that she'd gone wrong somewhere in what she'd said and he knew that she knew what she'd done. But in a battle of stubbornness, she was pretty sure he had no idea what to do with her, or what to say to get her to change her mind.

Until a new voice said quietly, "It does matter, Maya."

Both she and Lucas were startled, turning to see Tommy Murphy standing behind Lucas. Maya hadn't even noticed him come up, but she rolled her eyes and asked dryly, trying to get him to go away, "Oh, yeah? And what would you know about that?"

Tommy blinked at her in surprise before both of his eyebrows flew skyward, and Maya suddenly got the sinking feeling that she'd said exactly the wrong thing to him. He looked down at Lucas and asked, "Do you mind if I join the conversation?"

Lucas stood up from the box he'd been sitting on, saying softly, "Be my guest. Good luck."

Then he went back to where he'd been sitting with Riley, and Tommy sat down on the box across from Maya instead, saying, "Don't worry, nobody else heard what you two were talking about."

"What do you want, Murphy?"

"The same thing Lucas wants: to help you cultivate a good relationship with your dad. We both think that you and Jack deserve that."

Maya looked at him in exasperation, asking, "Why do you even care?!"

"I want to see this work out for you, Maya," he answered solemnly. "I see… parallels in the way that you think, the… dark lenses that you look at the world through. I used to think that way when I was younger. I was six, seven, eight, and already as cynical as you are now."

"What changed for you?" Maya asked, more to try and get him off topic than anything, and he knew it, but he allowed it anyway.

"Eric did. He got involved in my life, took an interest in this little kid who'd asked Santa-Eric for parents for Christmas. He took me under his wing for about four months. The rest of the story you already know," he shrugged, adding, "At least vaguely. One thing that you don't know is that, on the day Eric almost adopted me… I had been packing my stuff, an excited little kid picking up as many toys as I could before it was time to go, when he knocked on the door. I opened it, and once, in the course of whatever I said about being ready to go – just once – I called Eric 'Dad.'" Maya dropped her head into her hands, seeing where he was going with this. "It was only one time – five minutes later he had insinuated that he didn't want me and walked away – so _surely_ it didn't matter to me, right? I mean, that is what you said, isn't it?" Maya looked at him with tired eyes as he said fiercely, even while keeping his voice down, "But you know that it _did_ matter to me, don't you, Maya? I called him 'Dad' because I meant it – because I felt like he was my dad. In a way, I still do… I think I never stopped, actually. He's always been something to me, even if it was, for a while, just an old, treasured memory. I called him 'Dad' because I loved him, because I knew he loved me, and I felt comfortable labelling our relationship like that."

"Right before he walked away," Maya snarked.

He smirked at her. "We've already had that conversation." He pointed covertly to Jack, Shawn, and even Cory. "These guys aren't going anywhere on you, Maya. I promise. I talked to a couple of them just yesterday about it, even. It's just not going to happen; you're stuck with them, because they love you that much. They each already feel like they're some sort of father-figure to you, so what's the problem with acknowledging that, especially with Jack, your _actual_ dad?"

"The problem is-" she froze, then huffed, but said nothing else.

"You don't want to risk getting hurt, right?" She gave him a plaintive look, and he continued, knowing he was right. "In a way," he pointed out. "You're hurting yourself by _not_ saying it. You're depriving yourself of something great, _and_ you're depriving Jack of that same thing. It is a _good_ thing that you trust and love him enough to want to call him 'Dad.' And you know what? I bet you'd make his day if you did it where he could hear you. In fact, I _know_ you would!"

"And how do you _'know'_ that?"

"He's pretty much said so on two separate occasions," Tommy answered evenly. "He's not… like Shawn in that way. He likes order, guidelines, definitions, and the like. I think he'd like to know what you would call whatever he is to you."

"He hasn't said anything like that!"

"He has – yesterday, and even after the movie the _first day he met you_."


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

"Maya," Tommy continued fervently, Jack is your father and he loves you… and you love him, otherwise you wouldn't care so much about how he's going to react to the title! Would you?" Maya looked down, gnawing on her lip, and Tommy stood up, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I know this is scary – it's terrifying if you let yourself overthink it too much – but… just think about what I said, please. Look him in the eye when you call him 'Dad' – just try it out once, that's all I'm asking. I have a feeling he'll surprise you. Because he really, _really_ loves having you as his daughter."

Then he squeezed her shoulder gently and walked away. She got up too, and returned to her seat between Zay and Jack, feeling completely undecided. Sensing she was at the very best distracted with her thoughts, Zay took her hand and her father absently ran his fingertips through her hair.

Eventually the group finished eating and the apartment began to clear out until Eric, Tommy, Katy, Shawn, and Maya were left with Jack.

Jack wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulders and asked curiously, "How would you feel about spending the night sometime?"

"I'd like that," Maya answered instantly.

Shawn spoke up, suggesting, "Why not stay here tonight?"

"It's a school night and she doesn't have clothes," Katy replied.

"I do keep a change of clothes at the Matthews' all the time," Maya reminded her. "I could just go down a floor and get them."

"And if you're worried about it being a school night, I'm sure that between Cory and Jack, enough policing can be done to get her to school on time," Shawn added.

"I go to get Riley at seven every morning, Mom, you know that," Maya pointed out. "And she's closer here than she is when I stay at our apartment, so that's something, right?"

Jack arched an eyebrow at Katy, not sure what to say. But then Shawn whispered something in the woman's ear, she rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the stomach – good ole Shawn never was going to change, was he? – before saying, "Okay, fine. But since it's a school night you make sure you're-"

"In bed at a decent hour," Maya nodded. "I know. Matthews will remind me, don't worry."

She gave both Shawn and Katy a hug, and they were gone.

"You _sure_ you want to spend a whole night with this guy, Maya?" Eric teased.

"Yes," Maya drawled as Jack objected, "Eric!"

"It's okay, Dad," Maya said sweetly, wrapping her arms around Jack's waist. " _I_ love you even if Eric doesn't!"

Eric and Jack both gaped at her and Tommy burst out laughing. "You know," Tommy remarked, "If I may say so my-"

Suddenly Maya unwound herself from Jack and moved to push Tommy to the door, teasing cheerfully, "I think you've already said more than enough tonight, Murphy, don't you?"

He continued talking anyway, even as Eric followed him to the doorway, "That isn't how I imagined…" And then he saw the way Jack was smiling, pulling Maya into another hug. "But I'll take it. P.S., Maya, I told you so."

Eric shook his head, putting a hand on Tommy's shoulder as he nodded towards the elevator down the hall. Then the two of them were gone, leaving father and daughter alone.

"'Dad', huh?" Jack asked gently, pulling back just enough to look into Maya's eyes.

She shrugged, asking nervously, "Do you mind?"

"Of course not," Jack assured her. "I love it – and I love you, Maya."

She burrowed back into the hug, replying, "I love you too, Dad."

They just stood like that for a content minute until Maya pulled away reluctantly, muttering, "I'd better go get my stuff from the Matthews'."

"I'll be right here when you get back, Angel Eyes," Jack grinned, and Maya smiled back at him before she slipped out the door, leaving him alone in his new place.

He looked around with a smile on his face, starting to wander around the room. One evening in here and he was already "Dad." He was starting to recall that he'd liked living in New York City.

His apartment was identical to Cory and Topanga's though he had yet to add the personal touches here that was in the apartment below him. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he caught sight of his old sketchbook on the kitchen counter. He smiled as he picked it up and flipped through the old portraits, keeping it with him as he wandered through one of the bedrooms, crawled over a window seat and out the window, and ended up on the fire escape. Maya had suggested he try going onto a fire escape and looking out to get some inspiration for drawing, and he thought maybe he'd take her advice while he waited for her to come back.

Taking a pen out of his shirt pocket, he began to sketch by the light coming through the apartment window. Otherwise it was as dark outside as New York City ever got with lights glowing from windows and signs at every turn. But since he couldn't see as well as he would've liked, he let his mind wander to other things while he sketched absently, not really looking at what he was doing.

Maya had just called him 'Dad' to his face for the first time ever, Rachel's divorce proceedings were already about halfway over, he'd moved across the state over one weekend… there really was a lot to consider, to think _through_ and _absorb._

But he couldn't quite erase the picture of Maya's face from his mind when she'd called him "Dad" and in the moments afterward when they were alone. She'd used humor, sarcasm more like, to call him that, and then there'd been a heartbreaking amount of insecurity in her eyes when she'd asked him if it was okay. She was so strong, but so scared and so good at hiding it. She so wanted to trust, but still found it hard to do so… like Rachel, he realized suddenly.

Rachel whom he loved as much as he loved Maya, even if he loved them in two entirely different ways. Rachel who had been so trapped in her awful marriage, who was still so scared when facing her own husband in order to get away from him. Rachel who had more than once been internally shaking, Jack knew, even while she held her head up high and kept steady the hand that Lucas reached out for.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

Lucas… he was the one that Jack hadn't seen coming, the one that he hadn't expected to learn to love, the one that he hadn't expected to identify with just so much. He'd gotten to know the boy while he was here the last time, and he'd kept in contact with him over the phone since then. Jack saw so much of who he had been in Lucas, in the well-hidden anger issues, the protectiveness, and the willingness to hurt himself for the sake of his friends even though he had his own inner demons to fight.

Maya, Rachel, and Lucas – the unlikely trio he had to blame for his move here… and he didn't regret it a bit.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Jack looked down at what he'd drawn – and then did a double take. It was a sloppy sketch, thanks to the fact that he hadn't really been paying attention to what he was doing, but for the first time, he hadn't drawn a human… only – it _was_ a person. It was Maya, in a manner of speaking. A sort of angel version of Maya, sitting on the railing of this very fire escape, drawn from behind.

He could even tell how his thoughts had leaked out into the drawing. It had started out with Maya with her angel wings on the fire escape, gazing out at the lights of the dark city. Rachel's broken but fighting spirit shown through in the tired curve of Maya's back, the way that she was still alert despite her exhaustion, and, perhaps most tellingly, the jagged tear in one of the angel wings. The angel was still as beautiful as she would have ever been, even with her brokenness… even with the broken wing, she could still fly. Lucas was there too, in the angel's protective watchfulness that came from his mother, the creature's readiness to fight even with her injuries… and in the angry jet black color of the angel wings.

Jack really had surrounded himself with beautiful things, he realized – broken but healing as they all were – and he'd combined them all into one drawing to create one more beautiful thing. He was pleased with his sketch, Jack decided, shutting the sketchbook and turning his gaze back to the skyline. Maybe he'd found some new inspiration for drawing after all…

* * *

When she left her dad's apartment, Maya took the stairs to the Matthews' place, slipping in the door and declaring, "Honey, I need my spare change of clothes!"

"Eric said you were spending the night with Jack," Riley declared, tumbling down the stairs from her bedroom.

"I am," Maya said happily.

"So you are in a hurry so that you can have more Daddy-daughter time," Riley declared happily, grabbing Maya's hand and pulling her towards her room.

Before they could even reach the stairs, though, Eric called out from the kitchen tablee4, "Hey, Maya, I wanna talk to you for a second about what happened up at your dad's place!"

"No time," Riley insisted, still tugging along a now-grateful Maya. She called over her shoulder, "You leave my girl alone; if you want to talk to somebody, call your own boyfriend!"

When the girls made it to Riley's bedroom, the brunette closed the door and collapsed against it with a wide grin.

Maya arched an eyebrow, asking, "Eric has a boyfriend?"

"No," Riley shook her head. "He's not even gay. It's just a long-running joke from…" she cocked her head to the side, "The day Uncle Eric and Jack met, actually."

"Oh," Maya cracked up. "So my dad is your uncle's boyfriend, huh?"

"So they say – except for Jack and Eric, that is."

Maya grinned, deciding, "I can see it, actually."

"Well, of course _we_ can see it, _peaches_ ," Riley grinned, pushing herself off of her bedroom door.

"Of course we can, honey," Maya repeated with a smile before she turned away from Riley to retrieve the bag of clothes she kept stashed here. With her back still turned, she asked, "Do you think Eric will really call Jack?"

"Probably. They talk to each other about next to everything, according to my mom and dad."

"They really are another you and me!" Maya declared as the duo started back down into the main room.

Riley hummed, apparently losing interest in the topic in favor of another as she asked, "What did Uncle Eric want to talk to you about, peaches?"

"Oh," Maya swallowed before she revealed, "I may have kind of called my dad, you know… Dad."

"But, Maya, that's great!" Riley gushed – then she saw her best friend's face, and they stopped in the kitchen doorway as she asked worriedly, "Aren't you happy about it?"

"Yeah, I am... but part of me's still scared, Riles. Really, think about it! Jack only just learned that I'm his kid. Kermit knew I wasn't his and he left, opening myself up to Shawn came very close to blowing up in my face with this whole his-brother-is-my-dad thing, and," she paused before finishing, "And even your dad's let me go as his other daughter when he saw that Shawn was good for me."

"Maya, my dad hasn't 'let you go!' Where did you even get that idea?"

Before Maya could even answer, someone stood from the kitchen table – the worst possible person to hear this conversation, _of course_ – and Maya's whole body cringed as Cory Matthews asked softly, "Maya, do you think I've given up on you?"

Maya turned around slowly, looking up into his confused eyes to answer calmly, "No, I don't think you've given _up on_ me," she shrugged. "But I do think you kind of gave me up when you came to the conclusion that Shawn would maybe be a… more… like-me sort of father-figure, that maybe he would understand the things that I went through better than you. There's nothing wrong with that, is there, Matthews?"

She tried to shrug him off, but Cory was having none of it, apparently. "Maybe there's nothing wrong with giving you space to get to know somebody else, but there is something wrong with this if," he lowered his voice, mindful of Eric, talking on the phone across the room, "You think that I've _given you up_. I know where that terminology comes from, and it's not okay by me."


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

"You're being dramatic, Matthews; I know I'm not Tommy," Maya said with a dismissive roll of her eyes.

"And I'm not Eric. I do not, under any circumstances – or excess of fathers – _give up_ one of my kids. Not even you. _Especially_ not you. I'm not as good a man as Eric in that aspect. Maya, I love you, and I am here for you _whenever_ you need me, no matter who else is around, just like I would be with Riley and Auggie, and that will _never_ change. Please tell me you know that."

Maya looked at him for a long moment before she smiled softly, murmuring, "Okay. I believe you, I do. After all… father-daughter dances have to mean something, don't they?"

"Exactly," Cory agreed, smiling himself as he pulled her into a hug. "Things like that mean everything to a sentimental nut job like me, don't you know?" Maya laughed out loud, one more uncertainty in her life dissipating as Cory pushed her gently towards the front door and ordered, "Now, get back to Jack's." Maya was already halfway out the door when he added, "And get in bed at a decent time; tomorrow's-"

"-A school day," Maya grinned at him over her shoulder before she shut the door behind herself as she left. "Thanks, Matthews; I know."

* * *

Though New York City was never truly quiet, the ringing of Jack's cell phone in his pocket broke through the calm that had settled over the fire escape. He dug out the device, checking the caller ID before he answered.

 _Eric M._

"Hey, buddy," Jack answered, twirling his pen between his fingers as he spoke.

"Hey. Maya didn't want to stop to talk to me, and Riley told me to call you instead."

"So you're taking orders from your niece now?" Jack grinned.

"Niche – and it's never a bad idea for me to call you up."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"To check up on you!"

Jack laughed, "Eric, you saw me twenty minutes ago!"

"During which, if I recall, something rather momentous occurred."

"Enough superfluity, Eric."

"Oooh, 'superfluity'! I'm going to have to remember that one!" Then Eric sobered, a fact that was obvious in his tone even over the phone as he said, "So you're officially 'Dad.' How's that feeling?"

"Terrifying and wonderful and everything in between," he answered honestly, leaning on the railing of the fire escape as he tapped a staccato on the cover of his sketchbook.

"I think that's a good thing, though," Eric answered thoughtfully. "It means that you know it's important – that _Maya's_ important."

"Of course she is; I love her very much."

"I know you do, Jackie. You're doing a good job with her, just so you know – in case you need to hear it – you're becoming a great dad. Lucas likes you too, according to Cory."

"Yeah, I like him too. I… identify with a lot of what I see in him."

Eric clicked his tongue, "You're doing this smart, getting in with the kid to get to the mom."

Jack couldn't tell whether or not Eric was joking, and he instantly rebuffed, "That is _not_ what I'm trying to do! It never even crossed my mind!"

"Not even once?" Eric cajoled, and Jack released a breath when he realized that he was in fact being teased.

"Not even once."

Eric was silent for a beat before he stated simply, "But you still love Rachel."

"I care for every one of our little group," he sidestepped.

"Yeah, okay, fine, but that's not what I'm talking about here, and you know it."

"Eric, now is so many versions of not the time for this conversation!"

"Well, why not?"

"Because she's still _married_ , for one thing!"

"That's the only problem I'm seeing, and it's going to be out of your way in like a month, according to Topanga."

"You know, we've kind of had this conversation before," Jack pointed out dryly.

"When?!"

"When we were in college and she'd first moved into our apartment. Remember… 'we're freaks,' she's just come out of a bad relationship – with the same guy we're dealing with now, I might add – 'she's vulnerable'… is any of that ringing a bell?"

"Yeah, but we're handling things differently this time, Jack! I know my motives are entirely pure by now, but you… you still care for, even if you are giving her the time that, yeah, she needs. Don't you see that?"

"I know I care about her; I care about all-"

"Jack! Don't even try to give me that! I am your _best friend_ , I _know_ what you look like when you're in love, and you are as in love now as you ever were on that red couch of ours after your dad died! Who do you think you're fooling besides yourself?"

"I'm not fooling myself, Eric," he admitted. "I know what I feel. I think I knew it the moment I saw her again through that McDonald's window – but I'm going to go about it differently this time. I _have_ to. She needs time to heal, to… become _herself_ again, without worrying about some guy, be it me or her husband. I have to give her that – and I'm more than willing to. Whenever she's ready, I'll be here, willing to be whatever she's comfortable with me being. If I really love her, and really think that she's worth it, I should be able to be patient, to give her that space and time until she's ready for… whatever comes next."

"I hate to break it to you, Jack," Eric said, his smile coming through in his tone. "But it sounds like you _do_ love her – and not just in an I care for all of you guys sort of way."

"Yeah," Jack hung his head as he replied, the words caught between a breath and a groan. "I know it."

"Man, you've got it bad," Eric cackled. "Did you ever _stop_ loving her?"


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

"I don't know," Jack groaned, feeling the conversation start to tip more towards "let's-rake-Jack" than "let's-help-Jack." That wasn't something that he was interested in dealing with at the moment, so he was more than happy to hear the apartment door open and close as someone came in.

"Hello?" Maya called out from the living room.

"Look, Eric, I gotta go; Maya's back."

"Aw, no!" Eric objected. "Tommy and I are leaving tomorrow morning, and I wanted to talk to you before then."

"Ah," Jack drawled before he suggested, "Then… why don't you and Tommy stop by tomorrow morning before you leave, okay?"

It was pacifying Eric, and both of them knew it, but the senator accepted it anyway. "Great! I'll see you then."

Then the men hung up as Maya called out again, "Ja… ah-Dad?"

"I'm in here, Angel Eyes," he answered, and she came in, moving to climb out onto the fire escape with him.

"No, wait; I'll come in to you," he said, crawling through the window. He sat down on the bay window, and she dropped down beside him as he told her gently, "You know, you can call me whatever you're comfortable with."

He didn't want her to stop calling him "Dad," but if she wasn't really comfortable with it, then he would let her backtrack if that was what she wanted.

Maya shook her head with a smile. "I like calling you 'Dad'… I think. It's just going to take some getting used to."

"On both counts," Jack assured her with a pleased smile of his own. He had been overthinking things again, he berated himself as Maya looked around the room. Noticing the strange look on her face, he asked, "What are you thinking?"

She looked around the bedroom as she said, "It feels kind of weird; this apartment is laid out exactly like the Matthews'. Riley's getting ready for bed right below us."

"So this room, in their apartment, is her bedroom?"

Maya nodded, patting the window seat as she informed him, "This is our favorite spot in that entire apartment."

"Why's that?"

"It's… kind of our safe place," Maya grinned. "We talk about everything there – for hours on end, we don't have to do anything else but just be together. I love it."

"Hm." Jack looked thoughtfully around the room again before he suggested slowly, "You know… if you want, I could let you have this bedroom and bay window as your own – if you're going to be over here that often. If you don't want it, though, that's okay too."

"I'd love that, Dad," Maya assured him. She pulled her legs onto the window seat beside her, playing with a loose thread on the cuff of her jeans as she said, "I know you moved here to be closer to me and Rachel, and I like that. I'm happy you did. I want to get to know you better too." She shrugged. "I just wish I knew where to start."

 _Where to start_ … Jack mused – and then remembered something. He knocked his shoulder gently against hers and asked, "What if I came and picked you up after school tomorrow; we could go out for a couple of hot dogs, and you could show me your favorite places, get me reacquainted with the city. Would that work for you?"

"Yeah," Maya smiled. "I'd like that."

Jack grinned back at her, whatever tension had been in the room fleeing as he replied, "Good. Me too."

Then she asked, "Wait. ' _Re_ acquainted'? Have you lived here before or something?"

He nodded. "My stepdad, mom, and I moved when I was…" he thought for a long moment, trying to reconstruct the timeline in his mind. "Seven. I lived here until I went to college in Pennsylvania."

"Do you remember any of your own favorite places from when you lived here?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Would you show me those places too? I'll show you my favorites, and you show me yours?"

"I'd be happy to," he replied, pleased that she actually did seem to want to get to know him better.

"Good," she repeated his words from a minute ago. "Me too." Then she added, "We may just find something to inspire the artist in you all over again, Jack Hunter."

A comfortable silence rose up between them as Jack glanced down at the closed sketchbook on his other side and debated showing her the admittedly not-so-sunshine-y sketch he'd just done on the fire escape. _Maybe later_ , he decided, then looked over at Maya when he heard a yawn, felt a gentle weight settle suddenly on his shoulder. Just like she'd fallen asleep.

He chuckled – _Well, okay then_ – murmuring, "Good night, Angel Eyes," and, just like the first night he'd met her, Jack got comfortable right where he was.

* * *

Jack was confused for a second when he woke up the next morning, looking around the unfamiliar room and feeling an almost as unfamiliar weight on his lap. _Right, new apartment. New York City._ Looking down at the weight in his lap, he stifled a lap when he recognized a face under the tangled fan of blonde hair. _Maya_.

He got the feeling his daughter could've gone to sleep during a tornado if she wanted to.

Then he heard _why_ he'd woken up so suddenly and nearly flew out of his skin. Someone was pounding on the apartment door, calling, "Jack."

Jack eased his hands from around Maya and scrubbed at his eyes, grumbling quietly as he recognized Eric's voice. He tamped down an edge of irritation as the pounding on the door and the calling for him got louder, instead doing his best to ease out from under Maya without waking her. He managed it and was halfway across the room when a particularly vicious pound at the door woke her up anyway.

She groaned, sitting upright, and Jack winced as he turned back around to face her. "Sorry; it's Eric. I told him he and Tommy could come by and say goodbye before they left this morning. I did not, however, give him permission to break down my front door," he groused, starting for the bedroom doorway again, and stretching as he went to ease the tension from his muscles due to where he had slept.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

Maya mumbled something that might've been "'S okay," as she caught up with him, combing her hair back from her face. They walked into the main room together, and Jack opened the door, informing Eric, "You're going to make my neighbors hate me already, if you don't quiet down."

"Sorry," Tommy said. "He wouldn't listen to me."

Jack brushed off the apology as unnecessary with a wave of his hand, gesturing the two of them inside.

Maya asked Eric groggily, "What, were you trying to wake the dead?"

"The undead maybe," Eric shot back, looking her over. "Because apparently I got a zombie-Maya up."

"You might regret that in a second," she informed him dryly.

"We brought coffee," Eric answered cheerfully. "Would that help the zombie situation, maybe?"

Maya glared at the senator until Tommy offered her a frappe. "Riley mentioned you drank these. If you don't like the idea of being un-zombie-fied, at least accept it as a peace offering."

She gave both of them an exasperated look, ignoring the way the bespectacled one bit back a laugh, as she asked dryly, "What'd you put in it?"

"A double shot of expresso; you're welcome," Tommy replied just as dryly.

That coaxed a grin from her as she took the offered drink, saying, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he answered cheerfully.

Looking to Jack, Eric held out another cup of coffee. "Sugar and hazelnut creamer in black sludge, just like you drank it in the student union."

Jack accepted the offering with a thanks as Maya asked him in revulsion, "You drink this stuff black? Uncultured hillbilly."

"No, I can just handle the real stuff."

Maya made a face and shuffled over to the fridge, only to find it empty. "Right. Brand new apartment." She looked expectantly to Jack, asking, "What's for breakfast."

He winced, but Eric came to his rescue, saying, "Tommy thought of that actually." He held up a greasy white bag, declaring, "We bought donuts! Boring glaze for Jack and Tommy, chocolate-iced for me, and jelly-filled for the caffeinated zombie – suggestion again courtesy of the niche – assuming it's okay that Tommy and I eat breakfast with you?"

"Sure," Jack answered, taking the bag from Eric as he led them all towards the kitchen table. "Thanks for breakfast; it's good to see America's tax dollars hard at work, senator."

Tommy snorted and Eric grinned, "Yeah really."

They got the donuts sorted out onto plates, but before Maya could sit down, Tommy grabbed her wrist and tugged her over to the living room couch, leaving Eric and Jack alone at the kitchen table.

"I wanted to check up on you one more time before we left," he told her softly. "I hope I didn't overstep any bounds _too far_ last night; I would like for you to not hate me."

"I don't hate you," Maya answered easily. "I'm doing well, and so are me and Dad. We've got plans to go sightseeing after school."

"Good," Tommy nodded his approval before switching tacks. "Listen, Maya, I know I've basically only been on your case any time we've talked recently, but it's only because I want to see this work out for you and Jack. I know this can be hard and scary… but I'm willing to try to help you out where I can if you need me to. If you ever need to talk, you can call me. I may not be able to pick up the phone right then, but I'll call you back as soon as I can and do whatever I can to help."

"Thanks," Maya answered, actually touched by the offer. She knew it hadn't necessarily been easy for Tommy to share with her some of his own story, but here he was offering to do it again.

Yet he only shrugged nonchalantly, saying, "It's what I'm here for."

"You know," she gave him a kindly appraising look. "You'd make somebody a good big brother, Tommy."

Not "Murphy," but "Tommy," which she knew he'd noticed – and she got the feeling that the unexpected commendation actually meant something important to him. Good; he'd understood what she'd meant without her having to say outright that, at the end of the day, she appreciated how he'd said exactly the right things and pushed her at exactly the right times.

"Thanks," he smiled

"Yeah," Maya nodded, smiling back at him. "Thanks to you too."

* * *

"I had a thought last night, Jack," Eric said solemnly, catching Jack a little off guard as they sat down at the table.

"Oh?"

Eric looked over at Tommy and Maya out of the corner of his eye before he asked, "Does Rachel know about Maya being yours?"

Jack nodded. "I told her a couple of weeks ago."

"Over the phone?"

Jack sighed at the disapproval in Eric's tone. "Yes, Eric, over the phone. I felt like it just had to be said – from me before she heard it from someone else – and I didn't know when I was coming back to the city."

Eric leaned forward, his elbows on the table as he asked, "How'd she take it?"

Jack shrugged. "She didn't say much, really, but she wasn't upset or angry at me. Like I keep trying to tell you, we're not _a thing_ ; she didn't see any reason _to_ be upset with me. It's not her place right now, so she just wasn't. It's that simple."

Eric's eyes narrowed as he caught two of Jack's word and reiterated them. "What do you mean, 'it's not her place _right now_?"

Jack put his head in his hands, then took a long drag of his coffee before he answered, "We had this conversation last night. I'm not pushing anything right now, she's not looking for a relationship right now, and what eventually happens – or doesn't happen – is how things go. Again – it's that simple. I refuse to treat her like… a, a puffed pastry on a plate again."

Eric laughed softly, remembering where that had come from, before he answered, "Good for you, but – and, Jack, I'm telling you this because I'm very best friend and I will forever want what's best for you, even when you don't agree with me on what that is – you have one month until something starts to happen between you and Rachel."

"Man, you're comforting," Jack snorted.

"I'm not trying to be comforting," Eric retorted. "I'm being honest."


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

Jack met Maya on the edge of the school grounds once school was over for the day. "Hey, you," he greeted.

"Hey," Maya replied, walking up to him. "Ah, listen. Here's the deal. I mentioned what we were doing to my normal group, and apparently I garnered some tag-alongs."

"She means us," Riley announced, coming up with Farkle and Zay.

"That's fine," Jack answered amicably. "Actually, it's kind of a relief, seeing as I had the same problem.

"We're the problem," Shawn said happily, coming into Maya's line of sight with Katy's hand in his.

Maya wasn't necessarily surprised to see Shawn had tagged along, but Katy was another story. "Did you take off work for this?"

"Ah, no. My boss-lady very kindly told me to go enjoy my man while he was in town, and he was already planning on coming with you and Jack, so here I am too."

"Nice," Maya smiled.

"It'll be like a double date," Zay suggested gaily, taking Maya's hand before he looked at Riley, Farkle, and Jack and added, "With you three here too."

"Oh really?" Shawn said, raising his eyebrows as he looked between Maya and Zay and asked, "Is there something going on here that I haven't been told about?"

"I haven't heard anything either," Jack said, pretending offence. "Although I did guess that first morning…" He asked Zay conversationally, "Do you want me to tell you what she said then?"

"Stop it!" Maya objected, looking at Jack with mortification in her eyes.

"I'm sure he's just trying to be nice," Shawn wheedled.

"You know what would be nice?" Farkle spoke up, taking pity on Maya. "Going to our first destination."

"Yes!" Maya cried, shooting him a grateful glance.

"So where are we off to first, tour guide?" Jack asked, chuckling.

"Um…" Maya debated, then looked around at her friends with a growing smile as inspiration struck. "Should we start at The Book Barn?"

"Yay!" Riley said.

"'The Book Barn'?" Katy repeated incredulously. "One of your favorite places in NYC is called The Book Barn?"

"My newest favorite place," Maya said cheerfully.

"Why are you so happy about it?" Shawn asked Riley.

"Because it means a triple date with-"

Maya clamped a hand over her mouth. "Just come on, honey. I don't want to ruin the surprise for Dad."

"Why is it a surprise for me?" Jack asked, wondering if he should be getting nervous.

"Because I think it's going to become one of your favorite places too," Maya replied without batting an eyelash.

Zay asked, "Wh-" and then he grinned as understanding dawned. "Oh, I understand why!"

"Yeah," Maya said slowly, nodding as took her hand from Riley's mouth, looping arms with her instead as she guided her two favorite dumb-dumbs toward the subway station.

* * *

"Doesn't Rachel work in a bookstore?" Katy asked Jack while they were riding on the subway.

"Yes, she does," Jack answered with a pensive smile. "A bookstore called The Book Barn."

Shawn said, "I told you, big brother, when this group gets their collective mind set on something, there's no stopping them. It would appear that they've set their mind on getting you and Rachel together."

"Them and the rest of the world," Jack declared with a sigh.

"Yeah," Shawn looked at him shrewdly before he said, "But you don't _really_ mind, do you?"

Jack rolled his eyes and kept his mouth shut. Sometimes it was easier to just roll with the waves and see what happened. And if Shawn was right – if he didn't really mind – then what business was it of anyone's?

* * *

"Hi, Riley!" Rachel greeted the brunette from behind the counter of the bookstore. "Lucas is working on his homework in the back."

"Thanks, Mrs. Friar!"

Riley was off just like that, but the rest of the crew poured into the store right behind her, and Rachel's eyes widened in surprise to see them all.

"Hi, Rachel," Maya said cheerfully. "Jack and I are gonna hit some of our favorite places in the city this evening, and I thought of this place first."

"I bet you did," Rachel said with a grin, meeting Jack's eyes over Maya's shoulder. He almost laughed out loud. Rachel was nobody's fool; she knew exactly what was happening… but it didn't seem to bother her, he realized. "But, as you already know, it's pretty much the end of my shift, so if you want to buy a book, you may want to find it quickly."

"'Buy a book'?" Maya repeated the words as if she'd never heard them before.

Jack had to bite the inside of his cheek again to keep from laughing at the innocent look on the redhead's face as she asked, "Isn't that the logical reason you'd come to a bookstore?"

Shawn leaned over and whispered in Jack's ear, "Ten buck's says Maya invites her to come with us."

"I don't gamble anymore," Jack murmured back. "And if I did, I know a losing bet when I see one. Of course she's going to ask."

Secure in what to expect, Jack wandered farther into the small bookstore, keeping one ear on the conversation at the register as he browsed the shelves. Ah, there was the invitation… and there was a book that he just might buy… He plucked the book off of the shelf, poked his head into the back room to say hi to Lucas, and joined the crew at the counter just as Rachel agreed to join them on their little excursion.

"Excuse me, saleslady?" Jack elbowed his way to stand in front of the register. "I think I found something I'd like to buy."

Rachel slid away from Maya, shooting Jack a grateful look as she took her place across from him. "Of course." He handed her the book, and she froze for a second when she saw what it was. " _Keats Poetry and Prose_."

"I told you I liked the book when I gave you a copy way back when, remember? I thought I might…" he searched her gaze, trying to decide whether or not she understood what he meant while he said, "Try it again. Now, granted," he shrugged. "I keep hearing that it's going to be a month before I can get to it… but I think it'd be worth it to give it another try when the time is right."

"Yeah," Rachel breathed, smiling as she rang up the book and handed it back to him. "I like the sound of that."


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

Jack had to fight to keep his expression at least reasonably neutral as he paid for the book and turned to Maya. "You were right," he told his daughter. "This has become a new favorite place of mine."

"I wonder why?" Shawn hissed near his ear.

Jack elbowed his brother in the stomach and Shawn laughed. He laughed even harder when Jack declared, "I guess it's because I like what I can find here."

Standing away from the rest, unnoticed between the aisles of books, Lucas asked Riley softly, "What just happened there?"

"I don't know for sure," Riley smiled gently, "But it sounded to me like he wanted to try something again. At least," she shrugged. "In a month or so." He grinned, looking from Riley to Jack and Rachel as Riley asked him carefully, "Is that a good thing?"

"It's a great thing," he beamed.

Riley leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, wrapping him in a bear hug as she declared quietly, "It's great to hear you say that, too."

"Hey?" Lucas shrugged with a smile and kissed Riley's temple, his casualness belaying just how amazing his acceptance of the potential romance was. "Who wouldn't want to be in love?"

* * *

"Hey, guess what I have now," Maya demanded of Riley as their group left the bookstore.

"Another ferret?"

"Nope." Maya grinned. "A bay window – in my bedroom at Dad's."

"Oooh! Let's break it in tomorrow after school!"

Maya hummed, thinning her lips a little before she said slowly, "I don't think so…"

"Why not?" Riley asked with a frown.

"You know how we always say that bay windows are magic?"

"I say that," Riley corrected. "You roll your eyes and pretend you don't believe me even though we both know you do."

"Yeah, well, let's say for a second that I do believe not in magic, but in… beginner's luck."

"Okay…?"

"I think that I want to store up that beginner's luck for our 'meeting' after Rachel's divorce is finalized."

Riley nodded slowly as she considered that, then she looped her arm through Maya's, grinning as she pointed out, "It sounds like you already know what you think about the proposed scheme…"

Maya arched an eyebrow as she asked, "Do you mean it's _not_ obvious how I feel about it?"

"No," Riley giggled. "It definitely is."

* * *

Jack stepped carefully – more figuratively than literally – as he sat down at the counter at Topanga's early the next morning and called out, "Katy, are you here?" The woman in question appeared instantly from the back room, something like stress scrawled across her features as Jack asked, "You wanted to talk to me about something?"

She looked at him sideways for a second, suspicion that he didn't understand flashing through her eyes for a moment before she nodded and stepped up to the opposite side of the counter. "Yeah; thanks for meeting me here before we opened."

"Sure. Is something wrong with Maya?"

Wasn't that the logical reason Katy would've left that cryptic message on his cellphone? It wasn't as if they had much else in common, let alone talked about anything else with one another. Jack wasn't even sure he would've said they were friends.

"No," she answered shortly, then took a deep breath before she announced, "I want to talk to you about Rachel."

Jack straightened. He hadn't even realized that the two women were friends, but if Katy knew something she thought he should be let in on… "Is she okay?"

"As fine as can possibly be expected, I guess. I just…" she winced. "I feel like somebody should be looking out for her."

Jack had no idea what Katy was talking about, but he tried to reassure her, "We are looking out for her. Me, Lucas, Cory, Topanga, Eric, even Maya and Zay – we're all looking out for her."

"That's exactly the point!"

"I-I don't-" Jack raised his hands in a show of helplessness. "I don't understand what your point _is_ here, Katy." He'd never had more than that one real conversation with her the first day he'd met Maya, and now she… well, she was clearly trying to get him to see something; he just had no idea what that was.

She took a deep breath before trying again. "Divorce is _hard_ , Jack – even harder, I would imagine, considering the circumstances in which she's getting divorced – and I think that some of you are looking after her a little too closely right now."

"You mean me? What am I doing with or to her that's so wrong?"

"I asked Shawn yesterday about that conversation about the Keats book, and he told me what that meant to you two, and also the subtext of what you two were saying, and… I'm just afraid that she's going to, to hurt herself again."

 _Wait, was this about the way he'd inadvertently left Katy to raise Maya alone?_ She started to move about the empty café, and he swung around on the barstool, following her with his gaze as he said awkwardly, "Listen, Katy, whatever you think I'm like, however you think I regard or treat women, I'm sorry, but you really were the exception to the rule, and-"

"What?!" she whipped around with disgust written across her face and, by all appearances, barely refrained from throwing a tea towel at his face, "No!" She shook her head, fiercely repeating, "No! This isn't about… you and me. This is about _Rachel_."

"What about her?" he implored. "I don't understand what your problem is."

"I need therapy," she muttered under her breath. His expression showed his agreement, but he had the God-given sense not to comment before she said, finally speaking plainly, "After what she's been through, once this divorce is finalized, I think Rachel needs time to figure out who she is as an independent human being without a man to report back to."

Jack hummed, holding up his pointer finger as he said, "One thing: no woman in her life, save for employees underneath me in my father's company, has ever ' _report'ed 'back to' me_. Rachel is not an employee; she's… Rachel –whatever that may entail now or in the future." He lowered his hand to the counter as he said, "Beyond that… I'd say that I agree with everything that you just said – I think."


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

"Then what was the deal with that Keats book?" Katy demanded, looking genuinely confused.

Jack bit back on a sudden flash of temper at her interest in this, because he _could_ see where she'd gotten – or at least _been given_ – the wrong impression, and from a certain angle her concern for Rachel was kind of sweet.

"The book conversation was probably extremely close to what Shawn told you it was, minus, I'm going to guess, one small detail. My dear little brother – and a good number of our closest friends – would like to see Rachel and I get back together," he shrugged, saying honestly, "and I wouldn't mind that in the least myself. But I want it to happen all in good time, at a time and pace that's healthy for everyone concerned – especially Rachel and Lucas. Shawn and the rest, I think, are hearing and seeing what they want to hear and see right now. Here's why: yesterday I told Rachel, and I quote, 'It'd be worth it to give it another try _when the time is right_.' Now, I love my brother, but he is a schemer with a preferred endgame in mind, and I strongly suspect that one extremely important phrase got lost – or accidentally skipped – in translation. Do you see the difference in what I said and what I suspect Shawn indicated?" Katy nodded, seemingly thinking hard now about something, and Jack waited until it became obvious that she wasn't going to speak until he said, "I'm not going to lie and say that I don't love Rachel. I do – and not platonically – but… I'd like to think I love her enough to give her whatever she needs to heal. I don't want to screw up a relationship with her again – certainly not on purpose. I'd like to think I've learned from my mistakes."

Katy nodded again, and he could tell that it was something closer to simple curiosity that had her asking, "And what mistake might that be?"

Jack snorted. "It's true what they say about hindsight being 20-20, you know. Has anybody told you how Rachel and I met?"

"Yeah, Topanga mentioned it. Roommates in college after she'd gone through a breakup; you and Eric nearly started World War III trying to get her to love one of you over the other?"

"Yeah. That… World War III was my first mistake. I was a stupid kid in college, and she was… a pretty girl in a vulnerable spot. I kind of focused more on the 'pretty' than anything else, and it got to the point where I feel like Eric and I both were… _objectifying_ her. That was mistake number one. Then mine and Shawn's dad died, and she offered comfort I didn't want to admit I needed, and we took that too far too. That was mistake number two." He hesitated, not sure how to phrase it,

Katy understood anyway, her mouth caught in the strangest mix of a frown, smirk, and smile as she said, "You burned so hot you didn't realize you were burning _yourselves_ until you were already dead?"

"That," Jack blinked before he nodded his approval. "Is quite possibly the most poetic way that I have _ever_ heard that put."

Katy shrugged, and as her cheeks flushed, Jack realized that she was the type of person who didn't really know how to take a compliment – probably from lack of receiving them, if Jack had to guess. At least she looked like she was going to be friendly with him again. So instead making her say something, he admitted, "I don't want to do that to her – or even myself – again. I _can't_ go through that again." He snorted, muttering dryly, "You saw what it did to me last time."

Katy didn't speak for a second, and the beat of silence that passed between them was long enough for Jack to wonder if he'd said something terribly wrong. Then she murmured, "I don't remember it, you know." She was looking anywhere but at him, but speaking with a firmness that made him think she felt the words needed to be said – and maybe they did. "The night we met. I remember I walked into a bar and sat down beside this guy who looked as miserable as I felt. We swapped miseries, including the fact that we were both going broke, and we decided to pool what money we had to make sure we both left drunk. I'm not sure I even made it to round three with Jose Cuervo before forgetting everything that came after until the next morning."

"I remember this wisp of a woman sitting down beside me and convincing me to combine our resources for as much straight tequila as we could hold. Our drink of choice took care of the possibility of any real memories after that point, I guess."

Katy released a breath, gripping the countertop and almost swaying with unspoken relief. Jack had to beat back the impulse to reach out a hand to keep her steady.

Instead, he followed a different sort of impulse when he suggested, "Let's be friends, Katy. Can we do that maybe? Put how we met behind us and be friends?" She shot him a skeptical look – man, but she really was a suspicious New Yorker – and he tried a different tactic. "What if we become family in a different way down the road – through Shawn? Wouldn't it help to already be friends?"

He watched her expression in silence as that suspicion leaked slowly from her eyes and she smiled instead, "Okay," she agreed. "Friends."

She stuck her hand out for him to shake, smiling as she did so, and he took it, sealing the deal. Then they both chuckled at themselves, feeling like a couple of kindergarteners who'd made an innocent promise on the playground.

But it helped them both relax around the other, and Jack asked, serious again, "Is the divorcee in you satisfied concerning my intentions toward Rachel?"

She smile dryly at him, starting to scrub the countertop with her washcloth as she decided, "Yeah."


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

"But you're still going to be watching out for her, aren't you? And call me onto the carpet if you see me doing something towards her that Rachel isn't comfortable with? Because there's a fair chance you'd notice before…" he rolled his eyes at what he felt was his own ineptitude. "A lovesick idiot."

"You're no idiot," Katy objected kindly. "Not these days, anyway. But I'll watch out for her – we all have been – of course I will."

Jack stood up and started for the door, sensing their conversation was coming to an end. "Thanks, Katy. For everything."

She nodded, hearing just how sincerely he meant the words, as she replied, "What are friends for?"

* * *

 _Three weeks later_

"Are you actually spending time in your own café again, lawyer lady?" Jack teased with a smile, laying a hand on Topanga's shoulder when he walked into her business and found her there with Katy.

"Every time I can," Topanga grinned, looking at Jack. Then her eyes narrowed. "What's up? You've got something on your mind, Jack."

Jack nodded at Topanga's perceptiveness, pointing past her to Katy standing behind the counter. "Have you been keeping an eye on Rachel? Just… looking out for her, watching to make sure that she's okay whenever she comes in here?"

"As best as we can, yeah?" Topanga replied for them both.

"Do you think she's okay, then? I get the feeling that she's thinking something she isn't saying again. I thought maybe she had talked to one of you instead."

Topanga and Katy shook their heads and the lawyer suggested, "Maybe she's telling Eric things over the phone."

Jack shook his head. "I already called and asked him if that was the case; he said it isn't."

Topanga arched her eyebrows and Katy asked, "Are you really that worried about her?"

Jack worried his lip with his teeth before he admitted, "The divorce is going to be finalized in a week, and I'm worried that she's reconsidering ending the marriage."

Topanga looked at him skeptically – Katy snorted quiet but outright – as she said, "That, at least, I can tell you about. There is _no way_ that she's ever going back to her husband, Jack."

"Then what's been bothering her?"

At the increasingly concerned note in Jack's voice, Katy volunteered softly, "She's probably just feeling a little scared. A week from finalization… this is starting to get real, and it could be scaring her."

"The idea of being free of the jerk is scaring her?" Jack asked with raised eyebrows.

Katy shook her head, twisting a towel in her hands as she corrected, "The idea of being _alone_. I know Mr. Friar travels a lot for his job, but getting a divorce finalized is making it official, and it could be scaring her."

"The idea of being free of the jerk is scaring her?" Jack asked with raised eyebrows.

Katy shook her head, twisting a towel in her hands as she corrected, "The idea of being _alone_. I know Mr. Friar travels a lot for his job, but getting a divorce finalized makes it official. She _is_ alone then – as a parent, a breadwinner, and even, it can feel like sometimes, as a person. That's a scary feeling."

"But she's not alone," Topanga said instantly. "We're here for her. She has to know that."

"I think she does," Jack answered firmly.

Katy leaned against the counter, becoming thoughtful as she informed Topanga, "She might need a girls' night – no guys, low expectations, and no kids. Just chic flicks, Kleenexes, wine, and the opportunity to talk all of this out. I know when I was separating from Kermit, reconnecting with a couple of my old girl-friends did me a world of good."

Jack shook his head, muttering, "She's been with Mr. Friar since she left me, and she stayed pretty kept to herself during their relationship. She doesn't seem to have had real friends since college, and the only girls she got truly comfortable with back then," he pointed at Topanga. "Were you and…" he trailed off as his and Topanga's eyes both widened with the same realization.

Topanga said slowly, "But she hasn't even heard what's going on… has she?"

"Rachel hasn't told anybody what's going on; neither have Shawn or I."

"Cory and I haven't either." She shrugged, suggesting hopefully, "Maybe Eric's called her?"

Jack shook his head with a resigned frown. "She spent time as Rachel's roommate too; if she had known this was going on, she would've at least checked in on her by now."

"I guess we've just been keeping this between the seven of us, as far as adults are concerned," Topanga murmured.

"'The seven of us' handled the big stuff together for two years," Jack pointed out before asking, "If we call her, is she going to be angry that it took us to long to do so?"

Topanga shrugged. "I don't want to be the one to find out."

"Me neither!"

"You know, maybe we don't have to call her at all…"

Katy rolled her eyes and extended her hand expectantly. "You're talking about Angela, right?" When Topanga nodded carefully, "Katy asked, "Is her number on your phone?"

"Since she stopped by to talk to Shawn, yeah…"

"Then let me borrow your phone; _I'll_ call her."

"Katy…"

"Listen," Katy poked at the counter to emphasize her words. "If Angela and Rachel were roommates, that means they've already done girl talk and the like. Maybe if we get them together, we can tap back into that and get Rachel opening up. This is a good idea." She made a dismissive face, adding, "If you're worried about me and Angela, I don't even have to be around when they talk. Now please let me borrow your cell phone." Still looking dubious, Topanga handed over the device, and Katy said, "Thank you."

"Should somebody let Shawn know they're talking?" Jack asked Topanga uncertainly.

Topanga watched Katy look up Angela's number as she shook her head. "No, I don't think you'll need to; I trust them to be left alone together – especially if they're rallying around a common friend."


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

"You think Katy and Rachel are friends?" Jack asked Topanga in surprise.

Topanga nodded. "I blame Maya. She hit it off with Rachel immediately, from what I can tell. Katy was intrigued, I think; she likes to know who's influencing her kid when she can, so she got to know Rachel, and they became friendly that way. They became _friends_ when Rachel started opening up to Katy about the divorce and her thoughts surrounding it. I think it started out as one of those 'it's easier to talk to a stranger than a friend' things, but they really understood what the other was saying, and they bonded over it. I'd say they're at the very least pretty protective of each other."

"Are you telling me Katy wasn't protective of Rachel before?" he asked skeptically, thinking back to his and Katy's conversation three weeks ago.

"Katy Hart is a mother," Topanga smiled fondly. "A mother hen and, occasionally, a momma bear. She'll do _anything_ for her friends."

Jack looked over at Katy as she began to talk to Angela with a calm expression on her face, answering Topanga with a simple, "Obviously."

* * *

"Hey, Topanga," Angela answered her phone cheerfully.

Katy winced. "Oh, sorry. It's not Topanga; it's Katy Hart. I just borrowed her phone because it already had your number in it."

"Is everything okay?"

"With Topanga, yeah," Katy answered slowly. "Not so much with Rachel."

"Rachel Friar? Did she finally look the Matthews' up?"

"Mmm… more like Maya smoked her out – and Jack Hunter helped, but that's getting into a different story."

"Wait," Angela said in confusion. "Jack Hunter's in New York City?"

"He moved here just over three weeks ago."

"Huh. Good to know. I guess I've gotten a little out of the loop; I've really only kept in continual contact with Eric and Rachel. Eric's made sure to keep up with all of us, though… so, anyway. I'm sorry; you have a reason for calling."

"Rachel," Katy reminded.

"Is she okay?" Angela asked, concern coloring her voice again.

"Well, I want to make sure that she is, and we could use your help doing it."

Taking a deep breath, Katy slipped into the back room and explained Rachel's situation. When she had come to the end of her explanation, Angela took a steeling breath much like Katy had earlier, and answered, "Tomorrow's Saturday; I'll meet anybody who wants to be there at Rachel's apartment tomorrow afternoon."

* * *

Nobody _told_ Rachel that Angela was coming, exactly. In fact, the only person Katy told was Topanga, who mentioned it only to Cory. So whether deliberately or not, the only other two people who ended up at Rachel's apartment were Topanga and – at Topanga's urging – Katy. They got there before Angela, only to realize that they hadn't even warned Rachel _they_ were coming.

"I guess we're not so great at spur of the moment get-togethers," Katy murmured while Topanga knocked on Rachel's front door. "Should we offer to take her to lunch or something?"

"I have a feeling we won't have to if she's nervous. She has a cooking coping mechanism."

Before anything more could be said, Rachel opened her door, looking understandably surprised to see them both there. "Hey, guys, come on in! I was just making a batch of Lucas's favorite cookies… and a cake… and banana bread… and pizza bread. So I've been very busy. I have plenty for lunch if you guys want to stick around and eat with me!"

Katy could practically _hear_ Topanga telling her _What did I tell you?_ But all the lawyer actually did was tell Rachel, "That would be nice." She added carefully, "It would give you a chance to talk."

Rachel eyed Katy and Topanga, then looked towards her cluttered kitchen before she blew out a breath and flipped a lock of hair out of her eyes before admitting, "That would be nice."

Katy smiled a little sadly at her, but before any of them could say something more, a knock sounded at the door and she grinned outright. Rachel's eyebrows drew together in confusion as she shot Katy and Topanga a questioning look.

Then she saw Katy's gleeful face and pointed to her as she moved to answer the door, accusing, "You did something!"

Katy didn't even attempt to deny it, sing-songing, "And I'm not sooooory…"

"How terrible is this going to be?" Rachel asked Topanga dismally.

"Not at all," Topanga assured her with a smile of her own. "Now open the door!"

Rachel obeyed, gasping when she saw Angela standing in the doorway. She threw her arms around her neck, hugging her even as she drew her into the apartment.

Angela returned the gesture just as fiercely, saying, "Hi. How're you doing?"

Instead of answering Angela's question, Rachel turned back to Katy, saying with tears gathering in her eyes, "You called her?"

Katy nodded, smiling timidly and hoping against a sudden flash of doubt that calling Angela was the right thing to do for Rachel. Her doubt was instantly dispelled when Rachel hugged Katy, breathing a grateful, "Thank you!"

"Of course," Katy smiled, returning the hug.

"Wait," Rachel drew back, a new thought suddenly occurring to her as she asked Katy," You two are friends?"

"We get along," Katy shrugged, thinking that they didn't really know one another well enough to be friends. Then she smirked, asking, "Why? Did you expect us to be at odds because one of us has a past with the man the other's now interested in?"

Rachel grinned sheepishly, then blushed when she realized which of the Hunter brothers Katy was actually referencing. "Oh, yeah…"

"Oh, yeah," Katy repeated, grinning as she squeezed Rachel's shoulder.

"Hello?!" Angela waved her hand to catch their attention before she asked, "There's something else I'm missing, isn't there?"

Topanga asked Katy, "You told her about Rachel' husband, but not Maya's dad, then?"

"I prioritized," Katy replied, looking a little uncertain. "I have completely pure motives, I promise." To Angela, she volunteered, "I'll explain the other thing later. Right now, did you bring what I asked you to?"

Angela held up a bottle of wine without comment.

"In that case," Topanga turned to Rachel. "We are here for you right now. It's your turn to talk, and you have things on your mind, so let's talk about them."

That was all the prompting it took for Rachel to sit down with her three friends and just _let out_ everything that she'd been thinking – and it helped more than she had ever imagined it would.


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

Following her lunch with the girls, Rachel was able to get through the ensuing week much easier than she thought she would. They – and Jack – each called her daily to check on her and Lucas, dancing just on the good side of the line between concerned and stifling, like they were all so good at.

In preparation to go to the courthouse for the finalization of the divorce, she and Lucas had agreed to meet Topanga at the café, and, given how things had gone during this ordeal so far, Rachel wasn't surprised – touched, of course, but not surprised – to find everyone else waiting there too. Shawn was back in town, as were Eric and Tommy.

Eric and Jack moved towards her as a unit, even as Riley and Maya swept Lucas towards the comfort of his friends. Eric put his hand on her shoulder as Jack pulled her into a hug, and she was content to just rest there for a moment. Then Topanga maneuvered her away from them as the lawyer and Katy enfolded her in a hug of their own. Before they could release her, another set of arms wrapped around them all as best as possible.

Jack let out a low whistle, declaring, "Girl almighty."

Angela – who had apparently walked in the door after Rachel and Lucas – disbanded the four-way hug to add the rest of the quote while she looked pointedly at Rachel – "We are not afraid."

Rachel squeezed Angela's hand, giving her a small smile as Jack remarked to his daughter, "You should do some word art of that phrase."

Maya stared at him for a beat, inspiration lighting in her eyes as she scrambled to get a baggie of Sharpies from her bag. She took out a yellow one and handed it to her father before presenting him with her wrists and asking, "Can you write that… for today, you know?" As a way to dispel some of the nervous energy that was once again zinging through them, just like it did every time they went to face this man.

Jack smiled his approval of the idea, writing "Girl" in yellow calligraphy on the underside of one of her wrists, and then "Almighty" in the same place on the other wrist.

"Ooh, me next, Maya!" Riley requested, so Maya took a pink Sharpie to her friend's wrists, writing the words with curly-cues and "I"s dotted by a heart and a flower.

Angela hummed, asking Rachel, "You want to?"

"I will if you will," Katy added.

"I think you're right, Maya," Rachel spoke up, presenting her own wrists to the blonde, "It'd be a good reminder."

Maya grinned, handing Jack a red Sharpie and nudging Rachel in his direction. Then she took a silver Sharpie to Angela's wrists, turquoise for Topanga, and purple for Katy.

Seeing the trend starting, Jack asked, "What about for us guys?"

"'Girl almighty' doesn't exactly work for us," Shawn pointed out. "It doesn't make as much _sense_ for us, anyway."

That was when Lucas sat down in front of Maya, wrists already up as he declared, "'Freedom fighter' – because I've got this friend who says that the freedom is worth the fight… and I agree with her, these days."

Maya smiled lightly at him, taking a navy Sharpie in one hand and his wrist in the other, pretending not to feel his nervous trembling while she wrote. "Freedom" she wrote in graceful navy cursive, and then "Fighter" in jagged, lightning-like red.

By the time Maya put her Sharpies away, everyone had one reminder or the other scrawled across their wrists.

Jack reached for Rachel's hand as they all started towards the door, asking her softly, "Are you ready?"

She took a deep breath, declaring, "So ready."

"So let's get this done!" Riley said, slipping up to take Lucas's free hand as he also reached for his mother's free hand.

So they went as a group, one more time, to the courthouse, with even Katy and Angela accompanying them this time. And then it was over. Rachel Friar was no longer a married woman, even if she had decided she wanted to keep the same last name as her son. She and Lucas were both free – from the abuse, from the man, from the fear – and she found that she was actually excited to see what happened next.

"You really don't have to do this, Jack," Topanga protested as they all walked back through New York City after the divorce was finalized. "If we really want to celebrate, we can go to the café, or even mine and Cory's apartment."

"Nah," Jack shook his head. "It's fine. Besides, I think Maya wants her friends to see her room at my place."

"You mean they haven't yet?" Topanga asked in surprise.

"Nope." Jack grinned. "She's been keeping it for something, I think."

"For what?"

"I have no idea."

"You have every idea," Shawn spoke up from Jack's other side. "You know exactly what they're going to do when we get to your place and that bay window of Maya's."

Jack just smirked tellingly – and waited. Just as he'd anticipated, Katy spoke up from Shawn's other side, looking over her shoulder to where Rachel and Angela were walking together as she asked, "And what does Rachel think of all this? The bay window whatever's-going-to-happen?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't think she knows what's going to happen. None of us do, really. So why not let the kids play around a little bit? They're pretty harmless, at the end of the day, and I think more sensible than we've given them credit for. If nothing else, in this situation, I think Maya and Lucas are going to work together to keep the situation – the possible _plotting_ – under control. Maya's as much as said so to me, and Lucas is too protective of Rachel for me to be able to see him doing anything else."

Shawn hesitated, and this time when a gaze wandered, it was towards Lucas as he commented, "But that kid really looks up to you, Jack."

"I know," Jack replied simply, solemn as he said, "But I also know that's a trust that I'm nowhere near willing to betray. 'Life knows what it's doing,' right? Things will work out the way they're supposed to."

* * *

 **Well, obviously I'm not actually dead, guys, but I am _really_ sorry about the unexpected hiatus. However, I think the next chapter - 50 chapters even - might actually be the end of the story, now that I've gotten back to working on it a little bit.**


	50. Chapter 50: Epilogue

**The fourth and final prompt for this story is "Lucas and Maya become step siblings."**

* * *

 **Chapter 50 – Epilogue**

Once they were all at Jack's apartment, Riley, Farkle, and Zay all glanced towards Maya and Lucas, as if they were waiting for something.

Maya smiled broadly, not even trying to be subtle as she asked the others, "So, who wants to see _my_ bay window? I think this is a good a reason as any to christen the thing, right?"

Just like that, the teenagers trooped upstairs, not even noticing the way that Shawn was covertly elbowing Jack in the ribs. Riley all but ran to Maya's bay window, sliding into the same place she sat in her own window at home. Grinning, Lucas dropped onto the floor beside her, Maya sat in the middle of the bench, and Zay sat beside her while Farkle deposited himself on the edge of the bed.

"So…" Riley said expectantly, grinning as she looked between Lucas and Maya. "What do we think; are we going to help Jack and Rachel or not? We are, right?"

"I don't know, Riley," Lucas said slowly. "It's not that I think my mom and Jack are a bad idea together, because they're really great together, it's just that…"

"That they're really great together," Maya repeated, picking up where Lucas left off.

Riley's eyebrows drew together. "I don't get it."

Zay looked between Lucas and Maya, asking, "You mean that they're good _on their own_ , don't you?"

"As in they don't need our help?" Farkle added.

Lucas and Maya both nodded, and Maya answered, "Exactly."

"But…" Riley began looking a little crestfallen. "Couldn't we help them along maybe just _a little_?"

"We could, yes," Lucas replied, reaching for her hand. "But we don't _have_ to… and isn't that even better, really?"

"Let's just wait a little while longer, honey," Maya suggested with a small shrug and an equally small, entirely pleased, smile.

"I mean, think about it this way," Lucas suggested. "Life gave Shawn to Maya and Katy, life brought Jack into Maya's and my lives all on its own, life got Mom and I away from Dad. Life… _might_ know what it's doing this time around. So I think maybe we should wait and… see what life has planned all on its own. Okay?"

Riley squeezed his hand gently before looking around at the others, her smile growing as she agreed, "Okay."

* * *

And in the end, the universe knew _exactly_ what it was doing; even Riley had to agree that they're help hadn't been needed to nudge things along.

At least that's what she said a couple of years later, as she, Lucas, Maya, Farkle, and Zay stood together at Jack and Rachel's wedding reception. "At the end of the day, I guess we all kind of just stood back and stood together while we let life fix things for everybody all on its own. Uncle Shawn called Uncle Jack originally, but beyond that no one actually got in the middle and did anything. Those who needed to just took the next step, and look where we are now? I think life did pretty good."

"It did," Maya agreed with a smile, catching Rachel and her dad standing together across the lawn, talking with Shawn and her mom.

Wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, Zay asked innocently, "Even if you and Lucas did end up as siblings?"

"End up as…" Lucas trailed off, shock scrawled across his face as he stared at Maya.

Apparently, this was the first time anyone had thought to word it like that to them, because she stared right back, looking just as startled as she finished faintly, "…Siblings?"

"Riley said life knew what it was doing," Farkle observed, a wry, slightly nervous smile on his face. "She never said life didn't have an interesting sense of humor sometimes."

"But at least everybody ends up happy, right?" Riley asked hopefully, looking between the new stepsiblings.

Lucas took a breath, wrapping his arm around Riley's shoulders with a smile coming back onto his face. "Yeah, at least we're all happy."

"We're definitely happy," Maya seconded with a nod, leaning back against Zay – and she was wearing the smile to prove it.


End file.
